Recovery and recrystallisation in mechanically alloyed and annealed, legacy, FeCrAlY ODS alloy precursor powders

Abstract

This study presents findings related to the recrystallisation behaviour in Mechanically Alloyed (MA) and annealed powders of legacy commercial Oxide Dispersion Strengthened (ODS) FeCrAl alloys PM2000, MA956 and ODM751. Annealing of as-MA ODS alloy powders at temperatures ≥ 800 °C induced primary recrystallisation. The volume fraction (Vf) recrystallised increased with higher annealing temperatures in the range studied (∼800-1050 °C). However, low temperature (650 °C) recovery reduced the subsequent kinetics of recrystallisation in PM2000 alloy. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) analysis of annealed PM2000 and MA956 alloy powders indicates that precipitation of nano-particulate Y-Al-O phases begins at temperatures as low as 650 °C and microstructural changes during annealing of ODS powders involved interactions between nano-particle formation and recovery/recrystallisation processes. High number densities (NV > 1023 m-3) of coherent nano-precipitates were identified in both recovered and recrystallised regions of powder particles. These formed over a range of temperatures used in the consolidation processing of ODS alloys. The orientation relationship between nano-particles and the matrix was identical in both recovered and recrystallised grains, indicating that particles were dissolved at recrystallising interfaces and subsequently reprecipitated. Examination and comparison of as-MA and annealed powder specimens suggests that nuances in the manufacturing of these three, nominally similar, alloys leads to differences in recovery/recrystallisation behaviour, which may influence microstructure and, ultimately, properties in the final product form.