Superplasticity of Fe₃Al(Cr)

Abstract

The superplasticity of an Fe₃Al based intermetallic alloy with 3 at.-% chromium has been investigated in the strain rate range 10^-5-10^-2 s^-1 at test temperatures between 700 and 900°C. The composition of the iron aluminide was Fe–28Al–3Cr (at.-%) with additions of titanium and carbon. After thermomechanical processing the material possessed a coarse grained microstructure with an average grain size of 55 ± 10 μm. Strain rate exponents of 0·33≤m≤0.42 were recorded at strain rates of approximately 10^-5-10^-3 s^-1 in the temperature range 750-900°C. Superplastic elongations of 350% and more were achieved. From thermal activation analysis of superplastic flow, an activation energy of 185 ± 10 kJ mol^-1 was derived. This value is comparable to activation energies of superplastic flow in Fe₃Al(Ti) alloys. However, in unalloyed Fe₃Al the activation energy is higher, ~ 263 kJ mol^-1. Optical microscopy showed grain refinement to ~ 30 ± 5 μm in size in superplastically strained tensile specimens. Transmission electron microscopy gave evidence of the formation of subgrains of 0·3–0·5 μm in size. Superplasticity in this iron aluminide is mainly attributed to viscous dislocation glide, controlled by solute drag in the transformed B2 lattice at the deformation temperatures. During superplastic deformation, subgrain formation and grain refinement in the gauge length were revealed. From this it is concluded that dynamic recrystallisation makes an important contribution to the deformation mechanism of superplastic flow in this material.