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Revisiting Temporal Evolution of Cu-Rich Precipitates in Fe–Cu Alloy: Correlative Small Angle Neutron Scattering and Atom-Probe Tomography Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2019

Sarita Ahlawat ,
Sudip Kumar Sarkar ,
Debasis Sen  and
Aniruddha Biswas
Sarita Ahlawat*
Affiliation:
Glass & Advanced Materials Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai-400085, Maharashtra, India Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai-400094, Maharashtra, India
Sudip Kumar Sarkar
Affiliation:
Glass & Advanced Materials Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai-400085, Maharashtra, India Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai-400094, Maharashtra, India
Debasis Sen
Affiliation:
Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai-400094, Maharashtra, India Solid State Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai-400085, Maharashtra, India
Aniruddha Biswas
Affiliation:
Glass & Advanced Materials Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai-400085, Maharashtra, India Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai-400094, Maharashtra, India
*
*Author for correspondence: Sarita Ahlawat, E-mail: rituahl13@gmail.com
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Abstract

Binary Fe–Cu alloys are effective prototypes for investigating radiation-induced formation and growth of nanometric Cu-rich precipitates (CRPs) in nuclear reactor pressure vessels. In this report, the temporal evolution of CRPs during thermal aging of Fe–Cu binary alloys has been investigated by using complementary techniques such as atom probe tomography (APT) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). We report a detailed quantitative evolution of a rarely observed morphological transformation of Cu precipitates from spherical to ellipsoid with a significant change (approximately two times) in aspect ratio, an effect known to be associated with the 9R-3R structural transition of the precipitates. It is demonstrated through APT that the precipitates remain spherical up to 8 h, however, they subsequently convert to oblate ellipsoid upon further aging. SANS analysis also detected signs of this morphological transition in reciprocal space. Furthermore, SANS quantifies evolution of the precipitates and corroborates well with the APT results. Interestingly, the power-law exponent of the temporal evolution for mean size and number density agree reasonably well with the Lifshitz–Slyozov–Wagner model, in spite of the complex morphological evolution of the precipitates.

Keywords

agingatom probe tomography (APT)Fe–Cu alloyprecipitationsmall-angle neutron scattering (SANS)
Type
Materials Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 25 , Issue 4 , August 2019 , pp. 840 - 848
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2019 

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