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The mechanism of morphogenesis in a phase-separating concentrated multicomponent alloy

Nature Materials volume 6, pages 210–216 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

What determines the morphology of a decomposing alloy? Besides the well-established effect of the nucleation barrier, we demonstrate that, in a concentrated multicomponent Ni(Al,Cr) alloy, the details of the diffusion mechanism strongly affect the kinetic pathway of precipitation. Our argument is based on the combined use of atomic-scale observations, using three-dimensional atom-probe tomography (3D APT), lattice kinetic Monte Carlo simulations and the theory of diffusion. By an optimized choice of thermodynamic and kinetic parameters, we first reproduce the 3D APT observations, in particular the early-stage transient occurrence of coagulated precipitates. We then modify the kinetic correlations among the atomic fluxes in the simulation, without altering the thermodynamic driving force for phase separation, by changing the vacancy–solute interactions, resulting in a suppression of coagulation. Such changes can only be quantitatively accounted for with non-zero values for the off-diagonal terms of the Onsager matrix, at variance with classical models.

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Figure 1: The morphology of γ′-precipitates, Ni3(Al,Cr), in Ni 5.2 Al 14.2 Cr at.% after ageing at 873 K.
Figure 2: The temporal evolution of γ′-precipitates in Ni 5.2 Al 14.2 Cr at.%.
Figure 3: The significance of the diffusion of solute clusters (n-mers) in a Ni–Al or a Ni–Cr alloy.
Figure 4: The effects of vacancy–solute binding energies on growth and coarsening of γ′-precipitates.
Figure 5: The effects of vacancy–solute binding energies on composition profiles associated with the γ/γ′ interface.

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Acknowledgements

This research is supported by the National Science Foundation, Division of Materials Research, under contract DMR-0241928. C.K.S. received partial support from an NSF graduate research fellowship, a W. P. Murphy Fellowship and a Northwestern University terminal year fellowship. K.E.Y. received partial support from a NASA graduate fellowship. T. F. Kelly, Imago Scientific Instruments, is kindly thanked for the use of a LEAP tomograph before our acquisition of this instrument. The authors thank M. Asta, M. Athènes, P. Bellon, E. Clouet, M. Nastar and F. Soisson who interacted in many helpful discussions and S. M. Foiles for his grand canonical Monte Carlo code. G.M. was partially supported by an Eshbach Visiting Scholar Award from the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA

    Zugang Mao, Chantal K. Sudbrack, Kevin E. Yoon, Georges Martin & David N. Seidman

  2. Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique, Cabinet du Haut Commissaire, Bâtiment Siège, 91191 Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France

    Georges Martin

  3. Northwestern University Centre for Atom-Probe Tomography, Northwestern University, Cook Hall, 2220 Campus Drive, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA

    David N. Seidman

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Contributions

Z.M. carried out the LKMC simulation; C.K.S. and K.E.Y. carried out the 3D APT experiments; D.N.S. supervised and mentored Z.M., C.K.S. and K.E.Y.; G.M. analysed the observations in terms of diffusion theory.

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Correspondence to David N. Seidman.

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Supplementary figure S1 and table S1 (PDF 238 kb)

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Mao, Z., Sudbrack, C., Yoon, K. et al. The mechanism of morphogenesis in a phase-separating concentrated multicomponent alloy. Nature Mater 6, 210–216 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1845

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