Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
Phase-separations of coherent precipitates of ordered phases were investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and the theoretical analysis from a thermodynamic point of view. When the two-phase microstructures of A1+L12 in elastically constrained Ni-Al-Ti and Ni-Si-Fe alloys are isothermally heated inside the two-phase region of A1+L12 , coherent L12 precipitate particles sometimes exhibit a phase-separation and A1 phase newly appears and grows in L12 particles. Phase-separations of the same type as the above are also observed in coherent two-phase microstructures of A2+D03 and A2+B2 in elastically constrained Fe-Si-V and Fe-Al-Ni alloys respectively: coherent D03 or B2 precipitates exhibit a phase-separation and A2 phase newly appears and grows in both precipitates. Such phase-separation is realized under the influence of chemical free energy and elastic energies.