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Microstructural evolution during the heat treatment of nanocrystalline alloys

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Abstract

Nanocrystalline alloys often show exceptional thermal stability as a consequence of kinetic and thermodynamic impediments to grain growth. However, evaluating the various contributions to stability requires detailed investigation of the solute distribution, which is challenging within the fine structural-length-scales of nanocrystalline materials. In the present work, we use a variety of techniques to assess changes in the grain size, chemical ordering, grain-boundary segregation, and grain-boundary structure during the heat treatment of Ni–W specimens synthesized over a wide range of grain sizes from 3 to 70 nm. A schematic microstructural evolution map is also developed based on analytical models of the various processes activated during annealing, highlighting the effects of alloying in nanocrystalline materials.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work was supported by the United States Army Research Office under contract DAAD19-03-1-0235.

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  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139, USA

    A.J. Detor & C.A. Schuh

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Detor, A., Schuh, C. Microstructural evolution during the heat treatment of nanocrystalline alloys. Journal of Materials Research 22, 3233–3248 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2007.0403

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