Coarsening Kinetics of Y₂O₃ Dispersoid in New Grade of Fe-Al-Cr-Based ODS Alloy

Abstract

Oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloys with a high content of Al are candidate materials for extreme high temperature applications such as turbine blades and other components working at temperatures significantly above 1000 °C. While oxidation kinetics of Fe–Al ODS steels is frequently studied, the stability and growth kinetics of strengthening oxide dispersion is a rarely studied topic. The Fe-10Al-4Cr-4Y2O3 is an experimental material, fabricated at IPM by powder metallurgy route and contains much higher volume fraction of Y2O3 than similar materials. Stability and growth kinetics of Y2O3 particles of our material are studied on 24 samples aged for 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 72 h at 1200 °C, 1300 °C and 1400 °C. The sizes of at least 600 individual Y2O3 particles are measured on each sample to obtain extensive statistical analysis of the particle growth. The average particle size coarsens from 28.6 ± 0.7 nm to 36.9 ± 0.9 nm in 1200 °C series and to 81.4 ± 5.6 nm in 1400 °C series. The evaluated activation energy of coarsening of Y2O3 particles is 274 ± 65 kJ. The effects of particle coarsening on mechanical properties is demonstrated by HV measurements, which is in very good agreement with the Orowan theory.

Keywords

• oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloy
• dispersoid coarsening
• particle size stability
• microstructure