Thermal Stability of Nanocrystalline Grain Size in Ternary Fe-Base Alloys

We report recent research in our laboratory on the thermal stabilization of nanocrystalline binary alloys with ternary additions. Fe-Cr and Fe-Ni alloys with the ternary addition of Zr are studied. The thermal stability of these nanocrystalline alloys, prepared by mechanical alloying of powders, is studied by XRD, TEM and hardness as a function of annealing temperature. The relative importance of thermodynamic or kinetic stabilization in various temperature ranges is discussed for the different alloys. In agreement with our recent model for thermodynamic stabilization, it is found that Zr solute additions are more effective in stabilizing the nanocrystalline grain size in the Fe-Cr than in the Fe-Ni system.