Influence of Zr and nano-Y2O3 additions on thermal stability and improved hardness in mechanically alloyed Fe base ferritic alloys

The motivation of this work was driven to improve the thermal stability in systems where polymorphic transformations can result in an additional driving force, upsetting the expected thermodynamic stability. In this study, Fe92Ni8 alloys with Zr and nano-Y2O3 additions were produced by ball milling and then annealed at high temperatures. Emphasis was placed on understanding the effects of dispersed nano-Y2O3 particle additions and their effect on microstructural stability at and above the bcc-to-fcc transformation occurring at 700 degrees C in Fe-Ni systems. Results reveal that microstructural stability and hardness can be promoted by a combination of Zr and Y2O3 additions, that being mostly effective for stability before and after phase transition, respectively. The mechanical strength of these alloys is achieved by a unique microstructure comprised a ultra-fine grain Fe base matrix, which contains dispersions of both nano-scale in-situ formed Zr base intermetallics and ex-situ added Y2O3 secondary oxide phases. Both of these were found to be essential for a combination of high thermal stability and high mechanical strength properties. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.