Meteoric iron
| Numeric designation | Meteoriteneisen |
|---|---|
| Chemical designation | Meteoriteneisen |
| Etching | 3 % Nital |
The meteoric iron contains about 7% nickel in the matrix. Due to the very slow cooling, an extremely coarse Widmannstätten microstructure visible to the naked eye has formed. Nickel-rich austenitic rims remain at grain boundaries and in the most recently solidified areas, while the structure in between consists of differently formed austenite and ferrite. The α-γ equilibrium with 29 /7% nickel indicates a microstructure formed during cooling up to about 500 °C.
