Deformation behavior of a Ni−30Al−20Fe−0.05Zr intermetallic alloy in the temperature range 300 to 1300 K

The deformation behavior of an extruded Ni-30 (at. pct) Al−20Fe−0.05Zr intermetallic alloy was studied in the temperature range of 300 to 1300 K under initial tensile strain rates varying between about 10⁻⁶ and 2×10⁻³ s⁻¹ and in constant load compression creep between 1073 and 1300 K. The deformation microstructures of the fractured specimens were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Three deformation regimes were observed: Region I consisted of an athermal regime of low tensile ductility (less than 0.3 pct) occurring between 400 and 673 K, where the substructure consisted of slip bands in a few grains. Exponential creep was dominant in region II between 673 and 1073 K, where the substructure changed from a mixture of dislocation tangles, loops, and dipoles at 673 K to a microstructure consisting of subgrains and dislocation tangles at 973 K. The tensile ductility was generally about 2.0 to 2.5 pct below 980 K in this region. A significant improvement in tensile ductility was observed in region III, which occurred between 1073 and 1300 K. An analysis of the data suggests that viscous glide creep with a stress exponent,n, of about 3 and high-temperature dislocation climb withn≈4.5 where the two dominant creep mechanisms in this region depending on stress and temperature. The average activation energy for deformation in this region was about 310±30 kJ mol⁻¹ for both processes. In this case, a transition from viscous glide creep to dislocation climb occurred when σ/E<1.7×10⁻⁴, where σ is the applied stress andE is the Young’s modulus.