ZrO2 strengthened NiAl/Cr(Mo,Hf) composite fabricated by powder metallurgy

The ZrO2 ceramic particles strengthened NiAl/Cr(Mo,Hf) composite was fabricated from the rapidly solidified NiAl/Cr(Mo,Hf) pre-alloyed powder and the ZrO2 powder by powder metallurgy technique. Microstructure examination revealed that in the prepared composite NiAl and Cr(Mo) phases distributed at the eutectic cell boundary become coarse but many Cr(Mo) platelets inside the eutectic cell were broken, which was different from the original powder. Moreover, fine Ni2AlHf and Hf solid solution particles distributed uniformly in the composite, and the ZrO2 particles mainly segregated along eutectic cell boundary. In addition, twin crystal and stacking faults were observed inside of ZrO2 grains. The experimental results showed that the ZrO2 ceramic particles strengthened NiAl/Cr(Mo,Hf) composite exhibited better room temperature and high temperature mechanical properties than the NiAl/Cr(Mo,Hf) alloy, which may be attributed to the fine structure and the strengthening effect of ZrO2 particles.