Nanoscale characterization and formation mechanism of nanoclusters in an ODS steel elaborated by reactive-inspired ball-milling and annealing

Reactive-inspired ball-milling is proposed as a new production route for oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steels. So a Fe–14Cr–2W–1Ti–0.8Y–0.2O (wt.%) ODS steel is elaborated by ball-milling of FeCrWTi and YFe3 plus Fe2O3 powders instead of Y2O3 and then by annealing at 800 °C for 5 min. Characterizations by Electron Probe MicroAnalysis and Atom Probe Tomography (APT) are performed after milling and after annealing. For the very first time, nanoclusters are observed after ball-milling by APT. Those nanoclusters are enriched in titanium, yttrium and oxygen and their mean radius is 0.8 nm. With annealing, the mean radius rises up to 1.4 nm and the number density as well as the enrichment factor in O, Ti and Y increase. So a new formation mechanism of nanoclusters is observed in those conditions of synthesis: ball-milling initiates the nanoclusters nucleation and during annealing, nucleation continues, accompanied by a slight growth of nanoclusters. Thus reactive-inspired ball-milling appears as a promising route for synthesizing ODS steels with a fine and dense dispersion of oxides.