Identification of phases in zinc alloy powders using electron backscatter diffraction

Scanning electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) were used for the structural characterization of phases in Zn alloy powders. Commercial Zn alloy powders contained additions of <1000 ppm of Bi, In, Al or Mg. Bismuth and In have extremely low solubility in Zn and form intermetallic Bi-In compounds which segregate to the Zn grain boundaries. The Bi-In phases were <0.3 μm in size, had low melting points, and were not abundant enough for EBSD analysis. Increasing the alloying additions 20-40-fold resulted in Bi-In phases >1 μm that could be used for EBSD analysis for phase characterization. Deformation-free microstructures were obtained by mechanical polishing and ion milling. The Zn matrix was characterized as Zn via EBSD. A BiIn2 phase was identified in the powder microstructures via EBSD. An In phase with 8-9 wt.% Bi was identified using low voltage energy dispersive spectroscopy and closely matched the composition predicted by the Bi-In phase diagram.