Grain boundary engineering to control the discontinuous precipitation in multicomponent U10Mo alloy

Devaraj, Arun; Kovarik, Libor; Kautz, Elizabeth; Arey, Bruce; Jana, Saumyadeep; Lavender, Curt; Joshi, Vineet

doi:10.1016/j.actamat.2018.03.039

Grain boundary engineering to control the discontinuous precipitation in multicomponent U10Mo alloy

Journal Article · Fri Mar 30 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Acta Materialia

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2018.03.039· OSTI ID:1432516

^[1]; Kovarik, Libor ^[2]; Kautz, Elizabeth ^[1]; Arey, Bruce ^[3]; Jana, Saumyadeep ^[4]; Lavender, Curt ^[4]; Joshi, Vineet ^[4]

Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab. (EMSL)
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Energy and Environmental Directorate
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Energy and Environmental Directorate

Here, we demonstrate here that locally stabilized structure and compositional segregation at grain boundaries in a complex multicomponent alloy can be modified using high temperature homogenization treatment to influence the kinetics of phase transformations initiating from grain boundaries during subsequent low temperature annealing. Using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography of a model multicomponent metallic alloy —uranium-10 wt% molybdenum (U-10Mo) a nuclear fuel, that is highly relevant to worldwide nuclear non-proliferation efforts, we demonstrate the ability to change the structure and compositional segregation at grain boundary, which then controls the subsequent discontinuous precipitation kinetics during sub-eutectoid annealing. A change in grain boundary from one characterized by segregation of Mo and impurities at grain boundary to a phase boundary with a distinct U₂MoSi₂C wetting phase precipitates introducing Ni and Al rich interphase complexions caused a pronounced reduction in area fraction of subsequent discontinuous precipitation. The broader implication of this work is in highlighting the role of grain boundary structure and composition in metallic alloys on dictating the fate of grain boundary initiated phase transformations like discontinuous precipitation or cellular transformation. This work highlights a new pathway to tune the grain boundary structure and composition to tailor the final microstructure of multicomponent metallic alloys.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830

OSTI ID:: 1432516

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1548530
OSTI ID: 1434846
OSTI ID: 22744585

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA-129167; PII: S1359645418302374

Journal Information:: Acta Materialia, Journal Name: Acta Materialia Journal Issue: C Vol. 151; ISSN 1359-6454

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Nanoscale Spatially Resolved Mapping of Uranium Enrichment Kautz, Elizabeth; Burkes, Douglas; Joshi, Vineet Scientific Reports, Vol. 9, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-48479-5	journal	August 2019
Discontinuous Precipitation in U-10 wt.%Mo Alloy: Reaction Kinetics, Effect of Prior γ-UMo Microstructure, the Role of Grain-Boundary Misorientation, and the Effect of Ternary Alloying Addition Jana, Saumyadeep; Overman, Nicole; Devaraj, Arun JOM, Vol. 71, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-019-03588-4	journal	June 2019
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36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
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