“Pre-martensitic” phase in nickel-aluminum thin foils

Many beta Hume-Rothery alloys which transform martensitically at lower temperatures exhibit anomalies including softening of elastic constants, tweed electron microstructures, and extra spots and diffuse streaking in electron diffraction patterns. At one time it was customary to interpret extra spots as arising from transitional, pre-martensitic phases intermediate between the parent beta phase and the martensite. More recent evidence implicates surface phases on TEM thin foils. It is shown here that extra spots and part of the diffuse intensity in electron diffraction patterns from a Ni-Al alloy are clearly a thin foil artifact, and depend on the foil normal orientation. However, the tweed microstructure and 〈110〉 streaking in diffraction patterns appear to be a bulk effect. Formerly with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.     

Carbonitride precipitation in niobium/vanadium microalloyed steels

A detailed study of carbonitride precipitation in niobium/vanadium microalloyed steels is presented. A thermodynamic model is developed to predict the austenite/carbonitride equilibrium in the Fe−Nb-V-C-N system, using published solubility data and the Hillert/Staffansson model for stoichiometric phases. The model can be used to estimate equilibrium austenite and carbonitride compositions, and the amounts of each phase, as a function of steel composition and temperature. The model also provides a method to estimate the carbonitride solution temperatures for different steel compositions. Actual carbonitride precipitation behavior in austenite is then examined in two experimental 0.03Nb steels containing 0.05V and 0.20V, respectively. Samples were solution treated, rolled at 954°C (20 pct or 50 pct), held isothermally for times up to 10,000 seconds at 843°C, 954°C, or 1066°C, and brine quenched. The process of carbonitride precipitation in deformed austenite is followed by analytical electron microscopy (AEM) of carbon extraction replicas. Precipitates are observed at prior-austenite grain boundaries, and also within the grains (presumably at substructure introduced by the rolling deformation). Analysis of the grain-boundary and matrix precipitate compositions by AEM indicates that the grain-boundary precipitates are consistently richer in vanadium than the matrix precipitates, although compositional trends with holding time and temperature are similar for the two types of precipitates. The compositions of both the grain-boundary and matrix precipitates are not significantly influenced by the rolling reduction or the holding time at temperature. As predicted by the thermodynamic model, the precipitates become more vanadium-rich as the vanadium level in the steel is increased and as the temperature is reduced. The agreement between the measured and predicted precipitate compositions is quite good for the grain-boundary precipitates, although the matrix precipitates are consistently more niobium-rich than predicted by the model.     

Carbonitride precipitation in niobium/vanadium microalloyed steels

A detailed study of carbonitride precipitation in niobium/vanadium microalloyed steels is presented. A thermodynamic model is developed to predict the austenite/carbonitride equilibrium in the Fe-Nb-V-C-N system, using published solubility data and the Hillert/Staffansson model for stoichiometric phases. The model can be used to estimate equilibrium austenite and carbonitride compositions, and the amounts of each phase, as a function of steel composition and temperature. The model also provides a method to estimate the carbonitride solution temperatures for different steel compositions. Actual carbonitride precipitation behavior in austenite is then examined in two experimental 0.03Nb steels containing 0.05V and 0.20V, respectively. Samples were solution treated, rolled at 954 °C (20 pct or 50 pct), held isothermally for times up to 10,000 seconds at 843 °C, 954 °C, or 1066 °C, and brine quenched. The process of carbonitride precipitation in deformed austenite is followed by analytical electron microscopy (AEM) of carbon extraction replicas. Precipitates are. observed at prior-austenite grain boundaries, and also within the grains (presumably at substructure introduced by the rolling deformation). Analysis of the grain-boundary and matrix precipitate compositions by AEM indicates that the grain-boundary precipitates are consistently richer in vanadium than the matrix precipitates, although compositional trends with holding time and temperature are similar for the two types of precipitates. The compositions of both the grain-boundary and matrix precipitates are not significantly influenced by the rolling reduction or the holding time at temperature. As predicted by the thermodynamic model, the precipitates become more vanadium-rich as the vanadium level in the steel is increased and as the temperature is reduced. The agreement between the measured and predicted precipitate compositions is quite good for the grain-boundary precipitates, although the matrix precipitates are consistently more niobium-rich than predicted by the model.     

An electron microscopy study of carbide precipitation in vanadium

The precipitation of carbon from supersaturated solid solution in vanadium has been investigated using transmission electron microscopy techniques on thin foils. High purity vanadium strip was doped to a carbon content of about 0.2 at. pct and rapidly quenched in high vacuum, followed by aging treatments for various times in the temperature range from 300° to 600°C. The strip was then thinned for transmission electron microscopy. The carbon is observed to precipitate initially as very finely dispersed carbides visible through structure factor contrast. With increasing aging the precipitate distribution coarsens, and the carbides appear as very thin coherent platelets on {310} planes, showing a pronounced displacement fringe contrast. The coherent precipitate appears to have a bcc structure closely related to that of the matrix. With further aging these platelets are observed to thicken and partially lose coherency, punching out prismatic dislocation loops and helices having axes in 〈111〉 directions. This semicoherent precipitate is found to be the hexagonal V₂C phase described by other researchers, and its orientation relationship with the matrix may be expressed: (110)v‖(00.1)v₂c, [•111]v‖[•110] v₂C. The dislocation loops are a result of the specific volume difference between the V₂C precipitation and the matrix, and have Burgers vector b = a/2〈111〉. Formerly Research Assistant, Department of Metallurgy and Mining Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana Ill.     

STEM-EDS X-ray microanalysis of small precipitates in iron base thin foils

The experimental conditions for detection of segregated elements in the X-ray spectrum recorded from small precipitates ≦ 100 nm diameter contained within a thin foil of an iron base alloy using STEM-EDS X-ray microanalysis are described. The influence of precipitate size, position and composition, foil thickness, electron accelerating voltage, and X-ray emission intensity on its detectability are evaluated. Optimum experimental conditions for microanalysis of these precipitates are established and the limitations of current techniques discussed.     

Fe-V-C系奥氏体中VC析出动力学计算

以材料热力学及动力学为基础,以Fe-V-C三元系为研究对象,研究了1 130℃恒温条件下碳化物VC在奥氏体中从形核、长大到熟化的连续过程。各元素在碳化物-基体界面处达到局部平衡,根据基体成分以及每个碳化物颗粒的大小分别计算出生长速度。当碳化物生长进入熟化阶段,在Gibbs-Thomson效应作用下,小颗粒开始回溶,大颗粒继续长大,表现为总颗粒数量减少,平均半径变大;当保温时间达到1×104s时,析出量接近平衡状态,VC体积分数为1.51%、平均半径为0.72μm。     

Hydride precipitation and dislocation substructures in Ti-5 pct Al-2.5 pct Sn

Hydrides do not precipitate in Ti-5 pct Al-2.5 pct Sn stressed at room temperature at levels less than 80 pct of the yield stress. Above this level basal and γ-hydrides occur, the relative amounts of which are probably related to the relative amounts of basal and prism slip intersecting the stressed specimen surface.     

The effect of nitrogen on precipitation and transformation kinetics in vanadium steels

The isothermal decomposition of austenite has been studied in a series of vanadium steels containing varying amounts of carbon and nitrogen, (in approximately stoichio-metric proportions), in the temperature range 700 to 850°C. In the basic alloy, Fe-0.27V–0.05C (composition in wt pct), below 810°C the austenite to polygonal ferrite trans-formation is accompanied by interphase precipitation of vanadium carbide, the finer dis-persions being associated with the lower transformation temperatures. However, below 760°C there is an additional precipitation reaction where dislocation precipitation of vanadium carbide predominates; this is shown to occur in association with Widmanstätten ferrite. Above 810° C, a proeutectoid ferrite reaction results, the ferrite being void of precipitates; evidence is provided to show that partitioning of vanadium from ferrite to austenite occurs during the transformation. In the two steels containing nitrogen, namely Fe-0.26V-0.022N-0.020C and Fe-0.29V-0.032 N the basic interphase precipitation re-action is unchanged, but the resultant precipitate dispersions are finer at a given trans-formation temperature. The temperature range over which interphase precipitation oc-curs is expanded by the presence of nitrogen, since the Widmanstätten start tempera-ture is depressed and the proeutectoid ferrite reaction is inhibited. Precipitation in austenite prior to transformation and twin formation during transformation are both en-couraged by the presence of nitrogen.     

Application of a new model to the interphase precipitation reaction in vanadium steels

A new model has been applied to the precipitation of vanadium carbide (VC) particles in sheets at austenite/ferrite interphase boundaries during the isothermal transformation of Fe-C-V steels. Linear relationships between the intersheet spacings, the VC particle sizes, and the square root of the vana-dium diffusivity in ferrite have been identified. The model establishes predictive correlations be-tween the interphase precipitate sheet widths, intersheet spacings, and boundary migration speeds as a function of isothermal transformation temperature, and shows that the time associated with the in-terphase precipitate repeat period is a constant for each alloy over the temperature ranges studied. From a single measurement of interphase boundary velocity in a volume where the intersheet spac-ing is known, it is possible to predict the intersheet spacing and width as a function of temperature.     

A mass transport theory for interphase precipitation with application to vanadium steels

A mass transport theory is developed for interphase precipitation reactions in binary and pseudobinary systems where constant concentrations of solute are maintained at the interphase boundary. The theory presents exact solutions to the problem of diffusion-controlled growth involving the coupled motion of two boundaries. It is generally applicable to interphase pre-cipitation in both solid-solid and solid-liquid systems. Aspects of the theory are discussed with reference to the interphase precipitation reaction in model iron-carbon-vanadium alloys.     

Room-temperature mechanical properties of cold-rolled thin foils of binary,stoichiometric Ni3Al

In our previous works, thin foils of boron-free stoichiometric Ni₃Al, with thicknesses ranging from 57 to 315 μm, were fabricated by cold rolling of single-crystalline sheets which were sectioned from directionally solidified ingots. In this article, the room-temperature mechanical properties of the 83 and 95 pct cold-rolled foils were examined. Depending on the initial rolling direction, the foils exhibited two types of deformation microstructures: a banded structure with dual {110} textures and a band-free structure with a single {110} texture. The 83 pct cold-rolled foils showed very high Vickers hardness numbers: 649 and 604 for the banded and band-free structures, respectively. The foils possessed very high tensile fracture stress (1.7 to 2.0 GPa), with no appreciable plastic elongation along the rolling direction. The fracture stress of the 95 pct cold-rolled foils was slightly higher than that of the 83 pct cold-rolled foils. The banded-structure foils showed slightly higher fracture stress than the band-free-structure foils at the 83 pct reduction, but there was no difference between both the structures at the 95 pct reduction. Although there was no appreciable tensile elongation, slip traces were clearly observed on the surfaces of the foil specimens after the tensile test, indicating traces of some plastic deformation. The 95 pct cold-rolled foils possessed bending ductility, which was estimated as about 12 pct elongation on the tension-side surface of the bent specimen.