The paper is concerned with comparing the methods for determining the ferrite content in castings from duplex stainless steels. It uses Schaeffler diagram, empirical formula based calculation, image analysis of metallographic sample, X-ray diffraction and measurement with a feritscope. The influence of wall thickness of the casting on the ferrite content was tested too. The results of the experiments show that the casting thickness of 25 or 60 mm does not have a significant effect on the measured amount of ferrite. The image analysis of metallographic sample and the measurement with the feritscope appear to be the most suitable methods. On the contrary, predictive methods, such as Schaeffler diagram or empirical formula based calculation are only indicative and cannot replace the real measurements. X-ray diffraction seems to be the least suitable measuring method. Values of ferrite content measured in such a way often deviated from the values measured by image analysis and with feritscope.

For the EN GX4CrNi13-4 martensitic stainless steel, research was conducted to investigate the impact of the quenching intensity and the content of nickel on the mechanical properties and amount of retained austenite. It was found that the amount of retained austenite significantly increases with growing nickel concentration. On the other hand, the cooling rate at quenching makes a difference only if the cooling is intensive, then amount of retained austenite decrease. A higher nickel content improves the mechanical properties. With more intensive cooling, the tensile strength decreases while the yield strength increases. The ductility is not significantly affected by the cooling intensity.