Coarsening of Ni–Ge solid-solution precipitates in “inverse” Ni3Ge alloys

The morphological evolution and coarsening kinetics of Ni–Ge solid solution precipitates from supersaturated solutions of hypostoichiometric Ni3Ge were investigated in alloys containing from 22.48 to 23.50 at.% Ge at 600, 650 and 700 °C. The particles evolve from spheres to cuboids, though the flat portions of the interfaces are small. At larger sizes the precipitates coalesce into discus shapes, and are sometimes boomerang-shaped in cross section after intersection. The rate constant for coarsening increases strongly with equilibrium volume fraction, much more so than predicted by current theories; this is very different from the coarsening behavior of Ni3Ge precipitates in normal Ni–Ge alloys and of Ni–Al precipitates in inverse Ni3Al alloys. The activation energy for coarsening, 275.86 ± 24.17 kJ/mol, is somewhat larger than the result from conventional diffusion experiments, though within the limits of experimental error. Quantitative agreement between theory and experiment, estimated using available data on tracer diffusion coefficients in Ni3Ge, is fair, the calculated rate constants exceeding measured ones by a factor of about 15. The particle size distributions are not in very good agreement with the predictions of any theory. These results are discussed in the context of recent theories and observations.