Coarsening kinetics of coherent precipitates in Ni-Al-Mo and Fe-Ni-Al alloys

The late stage coarsening kinetics of coherent γ′ and β′ have been investigated in single crystalline specimens of Ni-14.5 at.% Al-5.9 at.% Mo and Fe-10 at.% Ni-15 at.% Al after aging at 1453 K for the Ni alloy and 1233 K for the Fe alloy. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) shows that early in the coarsening regime there is particle splitting in the Ni-base alloy. Continued aging changes the spatial distribution of particles giving rise to the formation of groups of many particles. In the Fe-base alloy, formation of particle groups is seen earlier. Longer aging treatments produce large particles that split forming plate like precipitates. Particle migration is evident in both alloys. The coarsening kinetics of particles in the Ni-base alloy show deviations from the usual linear behavior between the cube of the average particle radius and the aging time. There is a reduction of the coarsening rate and in addition broader particle size distributions are obtained. In the Fe-base alloy, direct measurements of particle areas on SEM images show a linear dependence of the cube of the average particle radius with the aging time. However, after correcting for particle shape an increase of the coarsening rate is suggested.