IRON & CARBON STEEL ETCHANTS
Please use the table below to select the correct etchant for your steel.
| Type of Steel: | Etchant to Use: | 
| Carbon steels and mild steels in general | Nital | 
| Cast irons & tool steels (most) | Nital | 
| Carburized or heat-treated carbon steels | First Picral then Nital | 
| Others | See this list | 
| Microstructures of Steel: | |
| Both ferrite grains and carbides | First Picral then Nital | 
| General alloy segregation, carbide networks and grain-boundary of carbides, Bainite | Picral | 
| As-quenched martensite, Ferrite grains and ferrite grain boundaries | Nital | 
| Martensite, tempered | First Picral then Nital | 
| Pearlite | Nital or Picral | 
| Prior-austenite grains | Prior-austenite grain boundaries etch | 
				








