Plastic flow and microstructure of cast nickel aluminides at 1273 K

Abstract

Chill-cast nickel aluminides based on Ni3Al were compression-tested in vacuum at 1273 K at strain rates ranging from 10-5 s-1 to 10-1 s-1. As the strain rate increases, the propensity for intergranular cracking increases. The ductile-to-brittle transition strain rate (DBTS) of as-cast Ni-22.5Al-0.5Hf-0.1B (at. pct) is approximately 10-1 s-1. Homogenization lowers this value by three orders of magnitude, to 10-4 s-1 (a homogenized specimen disintegrated completely at a rate of 10-3 s-1). The fine-grained structure of the as-cast alloy plays an important role in its relatively high DBTS. A hafnium-free alloy, Ni-24A1-0.1B, on the other hand, shows only a weak dependence of the DBTS on prior homogenization, and possible reasons for this finding are discussed.