Coarsening of M23C6 Precipitates in an Fe-Cr-C Ternary Alloy

Coarsening of M23C6 precipitates in an Fe-12. 4Cr-0. 13C ternary alloy has been investigated ageing at 780 °C up to 200 h. Evolution of M23C6 carbides at different ageing times was determined experimentally using transmission electron microscopy. Particle size distribution was obtained with different measuring methods. Simulations of coarsening of M23C6 precipitates were carried out using computational thermodynamics and kinetics. Results showed low coarsening rates for M23C6 precipitates in the Fe-Cr-C ternary alloy. Interfacial energy of M23C6/ferrite interface is between 0.1 and 0.3 J · m−2 for the coarsening of M23C6 ageing at 780 °C.