Interstitial distribution in Fe–Al and Fe–Cr quenched and aged alloys:: Computer simulation and internal friction study

Abstract

Two types of physical approaches for simulation of the Snoek-type relaxation in low and high alloyed iron are examined to explain the experimental results obtained for Fe–Al–C and Fe–C–Cr alloys. The first approach developed by Smirnov–Tomilin is to calculate all octahedral positions available for interstitial atoms with different amount of substitute atoms in the first coordination shell and to simulate the loss maximum as a sum of all partial peaks according to the above mentioned interstice positions. The second approach takes into account the all pairwise interatomic interaction between solute atoms in a few coordination shells due to their interatomic elastic and ‘chemical’ interaction according to Khachaturyan–Blanter theory. The change of activation energy of ‘diffusion under the stress’ for interstitial atoms in that case is not a linear function of substitutional concentration in solution. Both physical models (short- and long-range interatomic interaction) for the Snoek-type relaxation in quenched ternary alloys (Fe–C–Me) are examined from the viewpoint of a distance of interatomic interaction taken into account and checked using experiments. It is shown that contrary to the second approach, the first type of calculations is reasonable for relatively low alloyed solid solution only. Decomposition (Fe–Cr) and ordering (Fe–Al) change the parameters of atomic distribution in bcc solid solution and lead to the corresponding change in the Snoek relaxation parameters. The use of an adequate physical model and structure parameters allows to explain corresponding effects and, vice versa, the internal friction spectrum allows to estimate quantitatively atom redistribution in alloyed ferrite.