The exemplary Kelvin probe microscopy studies of sensitized austenitic stainless steels

The dataset summarizes the results of imaging the surface potential distribution using the Kelvin probe scanning technique. Due to the fact that the potential measured in this way is proportional to the electrochemical potential of metals or intermetallic phases, it is possible to assess the nobility differences of various alloy components. In the case of the austenitic steel tested, local changes in the surface potential were found, which may indicate the appearance of ferrite as a result of incorrectly conducted heat treatment. The above-mentioned treatment is considered to be the sensitization of the material towards intergranular corrosion.
The files are in binary form, the contents are maps of various physical quantities in the two-dimensional spatial domain. The files can be accessed both with the Nova software included with NT-MDT microscopes and with the free Gwyddion software to be downloaded at http://gwyddion.net/.