Thermal stability of nanocrystalline Fe-Cr alloys with Zr additions

The primary objective of this work was to determine the influence of 1-4 at% Zr additions on the thermal stability of mechanically alloyed nanocrystalline Fe-Cr alloys containing 10 and 18 at% Cr. Grain sizes based on XRD, along with microhardness changes, are reported for isochronal annealing treatments up to 1000 °C. Microstructure investigations were done using optical microscopy, channeling contrast FIB imaging, and TEM. Grain size stabilization in the nanaoscale range was maintained up to 900 °C by adding 2 at% Zr. Kinetic pinning by nanoscale intermetallic particles was identified as one source of high temperature grain size stabilization. Intermetallic particles also contribute to strengthening in addition to the Hall-Petch effect. The analysis of microhardness, XRD data, and measured values from the TEM image for Fe-10 at% Cr with 2 at% Zr suggested that both thermodynamic and kinetic mechanisms would contribute to grain size stabilization. There was no significant difference in the results for the 10 and 18 at% Cr alloys, which indicates that the α→γ transformation does not influence the grain size stabilization.