THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT ON FATIGUE AND FRACTURE OF IRON ALUMINIDES

This paper reviews recent research on embrittlement of iron aluminides brought about by exposure to moisture or hydrogen. The tensile and fatigue crack growth behavior of several Fe-Al alloys, ranging in aluminum content from 16 to 35a%, is described. It will be shown that tensile ductility and fatigue crack growth behavior are dependent on type and degree of long range order, grain structure, temperature and environment. Environments studied include vacuum,oxygen, hydrogen gas, electrolytically charged hydrogen and moist air. All cases of embrittlement are ultimately traceable to the interaction of hydrogen with the lattice.

A Study of Making Iron Aluminide Alloy Powders with New Rotating Electrode Technology

A new process was used for producing FeAl alloy pow de rs with double consumable rotating electrodes and the powders made in this appar atus were analyzed. In this new technology, tungsten rod serves as a cathode ele ctrode, while the alloy rod as an anode electrode. The conventional rotating ele ctrode process must have an anode with pre-melting alloys; however, in this new process, using pure iron as cathode electrode and pure aluminum as anode electr ode can eliminate the step of pre-melting. The effects of process variables, which include electrode rotational speed, a nd electrode diameter of the mean particle diameter were determined. Results showed that both the rotational speed and diameter of electrodes would a ffect the mean diameter of particles. There are three kinds of powders with diff erent composition produced in this study and the possible mechanisms are discuss ed. The process parameters and volume mean diameter of the powders have been cor related to find an experimental equation. The results show that when the rotational speed and the diameter of the anode el ectrode are increased, the powders size will decrease. However, the powders size will increase with cathode electrode.

Effect of Mo addition on microstructure, ordering, and room-temperature mechanical properties of Fe-50Al

The effects of Mo addition on microstructures,phase relationships,order–disorder phase-transition temperatures and room-temperature mechanical properties of Fe50Al50-nMon alloys(n=1,3,5,7,and 9,mole fraction,%)were investigated after solidification and heat treatment.Structural characterization of the samples was performed via X-ray diffraction(XRD),scanning electron microscopy(SEM)and differential scanning calorimetry.Room-temperature mechanical properties were investigated by conducting compression and microhardness tests.Mo3Al particles precipitated in all alloys because of the limited solid solubility of Mo in the Fe-Al-based phases.The as-cast Fe50Al50-nMon alloys exhibited brittle behavior with high yield strength and limited fracture strain at room temperature.Compared with the as-cast alloys,all the heat-treated alloys except for the Fe50Al41Mo9 alloy exhibited enhanced mechanical properties at room temperature.The heat-treated Fe50Al43Mo7 alloy exhibited the highest fracture strain and compressive strength of 25.4%and 2.3 GPa,respectively.

Microstructures and Properties of FeAl-Fe_3AlC_(0.5) Composites Prepared by SHS Casting

FeAl composites with 21, 37 and 50 wt pct Fe3AlC0.5 were fabricated by a self-propagating high temperature synthesis （SHS） casting. Phases and microstructures were analyzed by X-ray diffraction （XRD） and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. Microhardness and bending strength of the composites were measured. The composites with 21 and 50 wt pct Fe3AlC0.5 mainly consisted of FeAl and FesAlC0.5 phases, whereas the composite with 37 wt pct Fe3AlC0.5 was composed of FeAl, Fe3AlC0.5 and graphite phases. The bonding of the reinforcement and the matrix was good. Hardness and bending strength of the composite with 37 wt pct Fe3AlC0.5 was lower than those of the 21 and 50 wt pct composites owing to the presence of the soft graphite phase.

Strain-induced Microstructural Changes and Effects of Alloying Elements for Fe_3Al-based Alloys

The strain-induced microstructural changes of Fe3Al-based alloys during room temperature deformation and high temperature creep were investigated. The results illustrated the strain-induced disor dering occured during room temperature deformation. Creep strain could induced two opposite processes, which are strain-induced disordering and creep recovery-induced reordering. These two opposite creep induced processes during creep result in reducing the influence of primary microstructure on the rupture life.

Microstructure evolution and corrosion behavior of Fe-Al-based intermetallic aluminide coatings under acidic condition

Two Fe-Al-based intermetallic aluminide coatings were fabricated on 430-SS(Fe-Cr)and 304-SS(Fe-Cr-Ni)substrates by pressure-assisted solid diffusion bonding with coating on pure Fe as control.The microstructure and intermetallic phases of the coatings were characterized by SEM,EDS and EBSD.A network of Cr2Al13 with matrix of Fe4Al13 was formed by inter-diffusing of Al with the substrates.The corrosion behavior of intermetallic coatings was investigated in 0.5 mol/L HCl solution by mass-loss,OCP,Tafel plot and EIS.It was found that corrosion resistance was greatly enhanced by dozens of times after the addition of Cr and Ni compared with that on pure Fe.The presence of cracks in the coating on 430-SS provided a pathway for corrosion media to penetrate to the substrate and accelerated the corrosion rate.Moreover,the corrosion product was analyzed by XRD,demonstrating that the addition of Cr and Ni facilitated the formation of more corrosion resistant phases,and therefore improved corrosion resistance.

Influence of Heat Treatment on Microstructure and Sliding Wear Behavior of Fe-Al/WC Composite Coatings

An experimental study has been carried out to investigate the influence of heat treatment at 300 ℃,450 ℃,550 ℃,650 ℃ and 800 ℃ on the microstructure and sliding wear behavior of Fe Al/WC intermetallic composite coatings produced by high velocity arc spraying (HVAS) and cored wires. The result shows, the main phases in both as sprayed and heat treated Fe Al/WC composite coatings are iron aluminide intermetallics (Fe 3Al+FeAl) and α as well as a little oxide (Al 2O 3) and carbides (WC, W 2C, Fe 2W 2C and Fe 6W 6C). After heat treated at 450-650 ℃, dispersion strengthening of Fe 2W 2C and Fe 6W 6C will lead to a rise in microhardness of the coatings. The microhardness is likely to be the most important factor which influences the sliding wear behavior of the coatings. Increasing the microhardness through heat treatment will improve the sliding wear resistance of the Fe Al/WC composite coatings.

Preparation of an ultrafine-grained Fe-40Al intermetallic compound

An ultrafine grained Fe-40Al intermetallic compound is fabricated by a self- propagating high temperature synthesis （SHS） casting. The XRD result shows that the Fe-40Al intermetallic compound consists of the B2 FeAl phase. The Fe-40Al intermetallic compound presents ultrafine grain size in the range of 100-600 rim, leading from the high nucleation rate and the low growth rate. The Fe-40Al intermetallic compound exhibits high hardness （3.4 GPa） and high bending strength （830 MPa） and high compressive strength （2700 MPa）, which originate from the ultrafine-structure in the material. The effect of the load on dry-sliding wear rate of the material against AISI52100 steel was investigated. The wear rate increases with the increase of normal load. The dominated weax mechanism is microfracture.

Fabrication of Bulk (Fe,Cr)_3Al/Al_2O_3 Intermetallic Matrix Nanocomposite Through Mechanical Alloying and Sintering

In the present study, （Fe,Cr）3Al/20 vol% A1203 nanocomposite was prepared through mechanochemical reactions during ball milling and successfully bulked using a combination of cold isostatic press and sintering at 1400℃ for 1 h. Two processing approaches were utilized to produce （Fe,Cr）3A1/A1203 nanocomposite： The first was milling of Fe, Cr, AI and Fe203, while the second one was milling of Fe, Cr, Al and Cr203, both in stoichiometric condition, to synthesize （Fe,Cr）3Al/20 vol% Al2O3. Structural changes of powder particles during mechanical alloying were studied by X-ray diffraction. The microstructure and the morphology of powder particles and bulk samples were also studied by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Microstructural analysis showed that mechanochemical reactions took place during milling, and nanometric Al2O3 was uniformly distributed in the matrix. The results also showed that the second approach required a considerably higher milling time to produce （Fe,Cr）3Al/Al2O3 nanocomposite, as compared to the first one. For this reason, bulk samples were produced from the synthesized nanocomposite in the first approach. The microstructure of the sintered samples consisted of a network structure of （Fe,Cr）3Al and Al2O3 phases with superior mechanical properties.