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Title: Ferritic Alloys with Extreme Creep Resistance via Coherent Hierarchical Precipitates

Journal Article · · Scientific Reports
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep16327· OSTI ID:1259493
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [6];  [1];  [1];  [7];  [4];  [1];  [3];  [3];  [2];  [3];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  2. Tohoku Univ., Sendai (Japan)
  3. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
  4. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  5. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  6. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  7. City Univ. of Hong Kong (Hong Kong)

There have been numerous efforts to develop creep-resistant materials strengthened by incoherent particles at high temperatures and stresses in response to future energy needs for steam turbines in thermal-power plants. However, the microstructural instability of the incoherent-particle-strengthened ferritic steels limits their application to temperatures below 900 K. Here, we report a novel ferritic alloy with the excellent creep resistance enhanced by coherent hierarchical precipitates, using the integrated experimental (transmission-electron microscopy/scanning-transmission-electron microscopy, in-situ neutron diffraction, and atom-probe tomography) and theoretical (crystal-plasticity finite-element modeling) approaches. This alloy is strengthened by nano-scaled L21-Ni2TiAl (Heusler phase)-based precipitates, which themselves contain coherent nano-scaled B2 zones. These coherent hierarchical precipitates are uniformly distributed within the Fe matrix. Our hierarchical structure material exhibits the superior creep resistance at 973 K in terms of the minimal creep rate, which is four orders of magnitude lower than that of conventional ferritic steels. These results provide a new alloy-design strategy using the novel concept of hierarchical precipitates and the fundamental science for developing creep-resistant ferritic alloys. In conclusion, the present research will broaden the applications of ferritic alloys to higher temperatures.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA-25396; FE0005868; 09NT0008089; FE-0011194; FE-0024054; AC05-00OR22725; AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1259493
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1265957; OSTI ID: 1321756
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-15-22106; srep16327
Journal Information:
Scientific Reports, Vol. 5; ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 64 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Creep of Heusler-Type Alloy Fe-25Al-25Co journal January 2020
Reduced partitioning of plastic strain for strong and yet ductile precipitate-strengthened alloys journal June 2018
Effect of Ti substitution for Al on the cuboidal nanoprecipitates in Al 0.7 NiCoFeCr 2 high-entropy alloys journal August 2018
Characterization of Crystallographic Structures Using Bragg-Edge Neutron Imaging at the Spallation Neutron Source journal December 2017
Thermal Analysis of the Formation and Dissolution of Cr‐Rich Carbides in Al‐Alloyed Stainless Steels journal September 2018
Reduced partitioning of plastic strain for strong and yet ductile precipitate-strengthened alloys. text January 2018
High Temperature Deformation Mechanism in Hierarchical and Single Precipitate Strengthened Ferritic Alloys by In Situ Neutron Diffraction Studies journal April 2017
A Review on Nano-Scale Precipitation in Steels journal March 2018
Mechanical behavior of high-entropy alloys: A review preprint January 2021