Structure of the Intermetallic Compound Ni_3Al Synthesized under Compression of the Powder Mixture of Pure Elements Part Ⅰ: Phase Composition and Microstructure of Main Phase

It was shown by TEM and X-ray analysis that there are four types of grains of the main Ni3Al phase in the structure of the intermetallic obtained by the self-propagation high temperature method (SHS). Every type of grains has its own domain and dislocation structure. There are mono- and polydomains with and without dislocations. The grains of the main phase of monoand polydomains without dislocations and polydomains with dislocations were formed by diffusion in the solid phase. In these conditions NiAl3 phase is located on the grain boundary of the main phase. The Ni2Al3 phase is located at the triple joints of the main phase.

Structure of the Intermetallic Compound Ni_3Al Synthesized under Compression of the Powder Mixture of Pure Elements Part Ⅱ: Influence of Alloying by Boron on the Phase Composition and the Microstructure of Grains of the Main Phase

The Ni_3B phase was formed when boron (0.5 at. pct B) was added to the intermetallic of sto- ichiometric and off-stoichiometric (Ni-24 at. pct Al) compounds. In the alloy of stoichiometric composition the particles of Ni_3B phase has the size around 0.1μm and is located on the grain boundary of the main phase. The decreasing of concentrations of Al in the ofF-stoichiometric alloy leads to increase in the degree of the long-range order parameter, increasing the concen- trations of boron in the solid solution and decreasing its localization on the grain boundary. Microalloying of boron leads to increasing in the fraction of grain monodomains with disloca- tions up to 0.7 in the alloy of the off-stoichiometric composition and up to 1 in the alloy of the stoichiometric composition. It was established the correlation between the degree of the concentration inhomogeneity, average density of the dislocations and the average long range-order parameter.

WC-Ni_3Al-B composites prepared through Ni+Al elemental powder route

In order to develop the liquid phase sintering process of WC-Ni3Al-B composites,the preparation process of WC＋Ni3Al prealloyed powder by reaction synthesis of carbonyl Ni,analytical purity Al and coarse WC powders was investigated.DSC and XRD were adopted to study the procedure of phase transformation for the 3Ni＋Al and 70%WC＋（3Ni＋Al） mixed powders in temperature ranges of 550-1200 °C and 25-1400 °C,respectively.The results demonstrate that the formation mechanism of Ni3Al depends on the reaction temperature.Besides WC phase,there exist Ni2Al3,NiAl and Ni3Al intermetallics in the powder mixture after heat treatment at 200-660 °C,while only NiAl and Ni3Al exist at 660-1100 °C.Homogeneous WC＋Ni3Al powder mixture can be obtained in the temperature range of 1100-1200 °C.The WC-30%（Ni3Al-B） composites prepared from the mixed powders by conventional powder metallurgy technology show nearly full density and the shape of WC is round.WC-30%（Ni3Al-B） composites exhibit higher hardness of 9.7 GPa,inferior bending strength of 1800 MPa and similar fracture toughness of 18 MPa-m1/2 compared with commercial cemented carbides YGR45（WC-30%（Co-Ni-Cr））.

Effect of extrusion process on microstructure and mechanical properties of Ni_3Al-B-Cr alloy during self-propagation high-temperature synthesis

The well-densified Ni3Al-0.5B-5Cr alloy was fabricated by self-propagation high-temperature synthesis and extrusion technique. Microstructure examination shows that the synthesized alloy has fine microstructure and contains Ni3Al, Al2O3, Ni3B and Cr3Ni2 phases. Moreover, the self-propagation high-temperature synthesis and extrusion lead to great deformation and recrystallization in the alloy, which helps to refine the microstructure and weaken the misorientation. In addition, the subsequent extrusion procedure redistributes the Al2O3 particles and eliminates the γ-Ni phase. Compared with the alloy synthesized without extrusion, the Ni3Al-0.5B-5Cr alloy fabricated by self-propagation high-temperature synthesis and extrusion has better room temperature mechanical properties, which should be ascribed to the microstructure evolution.

Effect of cooling rate on the 3D morphology of the proeutectic Al3Ni intermetallic compound formed at the Al/Ni interface after solidification

Effect of cooling rate on the 3 D morphology and the growth mechanism of the proeutectic Al3Ni intermetallic compound(IMC) that forms at the Al/Ni interface after solidification was investigated by synchrotron X-ray microtomography in combination with EBSD analysis. The proeutectic Al3Ni phase that forms under an average cooling rate of 0.1 Ks^(-1) shows a characteristic faceted growth behavior and presents a typical 3 D morphology as partially hollow quadrangular prisms. On the contrary, that forms under an average cooling rate of 10 Ks^(-1) shows complicated dendritic morphology with asymmetrically distributed arms and faceted V-shape groove at the distal end, indicating a gradual transition of the growth behavior from non-faceted to faceted during the solidification process. These results reveal that the morphology of the proeutectic Al3Ni is highly sensitive to the solidification condition so that fine control of the desired morphology may be achieved by carefully manipulating the cooling profile.

Coarsening Kinetics of γ' Precipitates in Dendritic Regions of a Ni_3 Al Base Alloy

Coarsening behavior of γ＇ precipitates in the dendritic regions of a Ni 3 Al base alloy containing chromium,molybdenum,zirconium and boron was investigated.Annealing treatment was performed up to 50 h at 900,1000 and 1100℃.The alloy was produced by vacuum-arc remelting technique.Results show that coarsening of the γ＇ precipitates in this complex alloy containing high volume fractions of γ＇ phase follows Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner（LSW） theory.Coarsening activation energy of the γ＇ precipitates was evaluated to be about 253.5 kJ.mol-1 which shows that the growth phenomenon is controlled by volume diffusion of aluminum.With an innovative approach,diffusion coefficient of the solute element（s） and the interfacial energy between γ＇ precipitates and γ＇（matrix） were estimated at 900,1000 and 1100℃.Accordingly,the interfacial energies at 900,1000 and 1100℃ are 4.49±1.48,2.08±0.69 and 0.98±0.32 mJ.m-2,respectively.Also the diffusivities of solute element（s） at these temperatures are 3.41±1.08,30±9.5 and 145.15±45.85（10-15 m-2.s-1）,respectively.