Determination of the interface energies of spherical, cuboidal and octahedral face-centered cubic precipitates in Cu–Co, Cu–Co–Fe and Cu–Fe alloys

• Published in: Acta materialia Vol. 57; no. 6; pp. 1899 - 1911
• Main Authors: Watanabe, Daizen, Watanabe, Chihiro, Monzen, Ryoichi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.04.2009; Elsevier
• Subjects: Alloys; Applied sciences; CHEMICAL ANALYSIS; Coarsening; Coarsening theory; COPPER ALLOYS (40 TO 99.3 CU); Copper base alloys; COPPER COBALT ALLOYS; COPPER IRON ALLOYS; Copper–cobalt–iron alloy; Co–Fe precipitate; CRYSTAL STRUCTURE; Energy conservation; Exact sciences and technology; Interface energy; INTERFACES; Iron; Metals. Metallurgy; Optimization; PRECIPITATES; PRECIPITATION; Interface energy; Co–Fe precipitate; Copper–cobalt–iron alloy; Coarsening theory; Precipitation; FCC crystals; Co-Fe precipitate; Copper-cobalt-iron alloy; Precipitate; Microstructure; Interface; Grain coarsening
• ISSN: 1359-6454; 1873-2453
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actamat.2008.12.028

The coarsening theory of a spherical particle in a ternary alloy developed by Kuehmann and Voorhees (KV) has been generalized to any centro-symmetric particle. A classical thermodynamic analysis reveals that the generalized KV theory enables us to estimate the interface energy of a particle with a fixed shape, even if the shape of the particle is not controlled by minimization of the interface energy. Data on the coarsening of spherical, {001}-faceted cuboidal and {111}-faceted octahedral precipitates in a Cu–Co alloy, a Cu–Fe alloy, and three Cu–Co–Fe alloys with different Co and Fe contents during aging at 873–973K have been collected by transmission electron microscopy and electrical resistivity. By applying the generalized KV theory to the experimental data, the energies of sphere, {001} and {111} interfaces have been determined. Their energies increase with increasing the Fe composition in the alloys.