The precipitating kinetics of Ni75Al17Zn8 alloy was studied at both 873K and 973K by microscopic phase-field model.The calculation results show that the order-disorder transformation experiences the matrix→lowly-ordered L10 phase→L12 phase at 973 K.And the nucleation of L12 particles belongs to the spinodal decomposition mechanism.As temperature increases,orderings of Al and Zn atoms are resisted,but coarsening of L12 particles is promoted.The value of coarsening kinetic exponents approaches to 1/2.In addition,the discussions about Ni-Al anti-site defect and Zn substitutions for Ni site and Al site exhibit that the higher the temperature,the more distinctive the Ni-Al anti-site defect,but the less the Zn substitution.
By utilizing phase field method combined with analysis on free energy and interatomic potentials, pre-precipitation phase formation and transformation process of Ni0.75Al0.05Fe0.2 alloy in early precipitation stage during the ageing process under 1 000 K were studied. And free energy, microstructures, compositions and volume fractions of pre-precipitation phase and equilibrium phase were analyzed. The simulation results indicate that nonstoichiometric Llo pre-precipitation phase formed first, and then would gradually transform into L12 equilibrium phase. It is discovered that the phase transformation process was closely related to free energy and interatomic potentials. Additionally, it is revealed that free energy of Llo pre-precipitation phase was higher and interatomic potential was smaller than that of L12 equilibrium phase. Therefore, it is concluded that Llo phase was unstable, and phase transformation would occur to L12 which was more stable.
Based on the microscopic phase-field model, ordered domain interfaces formed between D022 （Ni3V） phases along [001] direction in Ni75AlxV25-x alloys were simulated, and the effects of atomic structure on the migration characteristic and solute segregation of interfaces were studied. It is found that the migration ability is related to the atomic structure of interfaces, and three kinds of interfaces can migrate except the interface （001）//（002） which has the characteristic of L12 （Ni3Al） structure. V atoms jump to the nearest neighbor site and substitute for Ni, and vice versa. Because of the site selectivity behaviors of jumping atoms, the number of jumping atoms during the migration is the least and the jumping distance of atoms is the shortest among all possible modes, and the atomic structures of interfaces are unchanged before and after the migration. The preferences and degree of segregation or depletion of alloy elements are also related to the atomic structure of interface.
Kinetics of order-disorder transition at antiphase domain boundary （APDB） formed between L12 （Ni3A1） phases is investigated using microscopic phase-field model. The results demonstrate that whether order-disorder transition happens or not depends on the atomic structure of the APDB. Accompanied with the enrichment of V and depletion of Ni and A1, the ordered APDB with phase-shift vector of a/2[100] transforms into a thin disordered phase layer. Whereas at the APDB with phase shift vector of a/2[110], which remains ordered with temporal evolution, Ni and A1 enrich and V depletes. Composition evolution of APDB with order-disorder transition favors the nucleation of DO22 phase, and the formation of disordered phase layer accelerates the growth of DO22 phase. The disordered phase caused by order-disordered transition of the APDB can be considered as the transient phase along the precipitation path of DO22 phase.
Correlation between site occupation evolution of alloying elements in L12 phase and growth of DO22 phase in Ni75Al7.5V17.5 was studied using microscopic phase field model. The results demonstrate that the growing process of DO22 phase can be divided into two stages. At the early stage, composition in the centre part of L12 phase almost remains unchanged, and the nucleation and growth of DO22 phase is controlled by the decrease of interface between L12 phases. At the late stage, part of V for growth of DO22 phase is supplied from the centre part of L12 phase and mainly comes from Al sublattice, the excess Ni spared from the decreasing L12 phase migrates into the centre part of L12 phase and occupies the Ni sublattices exclusively, while the excess Al mainly occupies the Al sublattice. At the late stage, the growth of DO22 phase is controlled by the evolution of antisite atoms and ternary additions in the centre part of L12 phase.
The temporal evolution feature of a microscopic phase field model is utilized to study the antisite defects of L1 2-Ni 3 Al;this is quite different from other physicist’ interests.There are mainly two points in brief.Firstly,antisite defects Ni Al and Al Ni ,which are caused by the deviation from the stoichiometric Ni 3 Al,coexist in the Ni 3 Al phase.The surplus Ni atom in the Ni-rich side is prone to substitute Al thus producing the antisite defect Ni Al that maintains the stability of the L1 2 structure.In other case,the surplus Al atom in the Al-rich side is accommodated by a Ni sublattice consequently giving rise to antisite defect Al Ni .The calculated equilibrium occupancy probability of Ni Al is much higher than that of Al Ni .This point is generally in line with other theoretical and experimental works.Additionally,both Ni Al and Al Ni have a strong negative correlation to time step during the disorder-order transformation.Since the initial value of Ni Al and Al Ni on each site of the matrix is right at the concentration that we set,we can observe the decrease process of Ni Al and Al Ni from the initial disordered high anti-structure state to their respective equilibrium state,i.e.to the result of the ordering process further coarsening.
ZHANG Jing ,CHEN Zheng,LU YanLi,ZHANG MingYi & WANG YongXin State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing
