Ostwald ripening of decomposed phases in Cu-Ni-Cr alloys

A study of the coarsening process of the decomposed phases was carried out in the Cu-34 wt.% Ni-4 wt.% Cr and Cu-45 wt.% Ni-10 wt.% Cr alloys using transmission electron microscopy. As aging progressed, the morphology of the coherent decomposed Ni-rich phase changed from cuboids to platelets aligned in the 〈1 0 0〉 Cu-rich matrix directions. Prolonged aging caused the loss of coherency between the decomposed phases and the morphology of the Ni-rich phase changed to ellipsoidal. The variation of mean radius of the coherent decomposed phases with aging time followed the modified LSW theory for thermally activated growth in ternary alloy systems. The linear variation of the density number of precipitates and matrix supersaturation with aging time, also confirmed that the coarsening process followed the modified LSW theory in both alloys. The coarsening rate was faster in the symmetrical Cu-45 wt.% Ni-10 wt.% Cr alloy due to its higher volume fraction of precipitates. The activation energy for thermally activated growth was determined to be about 182 and 102 kJ mol−1 in the Cu-34 wt.% Ni-4 wt.% Cr and Cu-45 wt.% Ni-10 wt.% Cr alloys, respectively. The lower energy for the former alloy seems to be related to an increase in the atomic diffusion process as the chromium content increases. The size distributions of precipitates in the Cu-Ni-Cr alloys were broader and more symmetric than that predicted by the modified LSW theory for ternary alloys.