Institute of Metals Division - Effect of 500°C Aging on the Deformation Behavior of an Iron-Chromium Alloy

Room -temperature hardness measurements obtained from single and polycrystalline samples of a 47.8 at, pet Cr-Fe alloy which were aged for various times al 500°C show a two-fold increase over that of the unaged alloy after annealing for 1000 hr. A detailed examination of the deformation markings in the neighborhood of the hardness imbressions reveals that twinning becomes an increasingly more important mode of deformation as aging proceeds. this observation is shown to be inconsistent with the Proposals that the transformation is eve of order-disorder On the other hand, the results are in agreement with previous observations of Fisher et al. of a coherent chromium-rich precipitate which forms in an iron-rich matrix as a result of a miscibility gap in this alloy system as proposed by Williams . Using the coherent precipitate hypotlzesis as a model, a detailed analysis of the various possible strengthening contributions to both the slip mid twinning stresses is made. In the case of' slip, lattice friction within the chromium-rich phase and the chemical energy associated with the interface between the two phases contribute about 60pet to the total strength. The contributions from coherency strains and modulus differences are thought to contribute the remaining 40 pet of the strength but are difficult to evaluate because of uncertainties regarding the flexibility of the dislocation line. All of the factors have nearly the same or else a smaller effect on the twinning stress in the aged alloy. Twinning is never observed in the unaged alloy because the twinning stress is much higher- than that for slip. With increased aging times, the various contributions to the total stress for both twinning and slip increase, but most of those for slip increase much more rapidly, so that, in the fully aged alloy, it surpasses the stress for twin propagation. When a twin is nucleated by the chance occurrence of an internal stress concentration during a test, the subsequent twin burst results in a low hardness reading. FeRNTIC Fe-Cr alloys from about 15 to 80 at. pet Cr content show considerable change in properties such as hardness, electrical resistivity, saturation magnetization, and so forth, after aging in the vicinity of 500°C.* The most marked change is a large increase in hardness accompanied by a sharp decrease in ductility, so the phenomenon has often been referred to as the 475°C (885°F) em-brittlement problem. Changes in microstructure are rather subtle and most investigators have not been able to observe any X-ray diffraction or metal-lographic changes during aging. There is little doubt that the phenomenon is inherent to the Fe-Cr binary system and is not directly related to the formation of a phase. Two distinct schools of thought have developed during the past decade concerning this problem. Masumoto, Saito, and sugiharal have concluded, from their own specific-heat measurements, that atomic ordering occurs in this temperature range. Pomey and Bastien2 have also attributed the changes in physical properties with aging in the neighborhood of 500°C to atomic ordering. In addition, Takeda and Nagai3 claimed to have found X-ray verification for superlattices corresponding to the compositions FesCr, FeCr, and FeCr3. However, all known attempts to observe superlattices in Fe-Cr alloys using neutron diffraction, which should be much more sensitive, have been unsuccessful. These have been reported by Shull et al.4 for 25 at. pet Cr, williams5 for 75 at. pet Cr, and Tisinai and samans6 for a 28.5 at. pet Cr. steel. The second and more prevalent opinion ascribes the 475°C embrittlement phenomenon to the formation of a coherent precipitate due to the occurrence of a miscibility gap in the Fe-Cr system below about 550°C. This latter concept was first indicated by the results of Fisher, Dulis, and Carroll,7 who were able to extract fine particles about 200Å in diameter from samples of 28.5 at. pet Cr steels aged from 1 to 3 years at 475°C. The extracted material was found to be nonmagnetic, to have a bee structure with a lattice parameter between that of iron and chromium, and to contain about 80 at. pet Cr. Williams and paxton8 and williams5 confirmed these results and first explicitly proposed the existence of a miscibility gap below the a region in the equilibrium diagram. Alloys aged within this gap