Acta Metallurgica Sinica (English Letters) ›› 2012, Vol. 25 ›› Issue (5): 401-408.DOI: 10.11890/1006-7191-125-401

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Strengthening mechanism of Fe-Cu alloy during aging

Zhitao HUANG 1, Wenhuai TIAN 1 , Wenxiu LENG 2   

  1. 1.School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
    2.College of Science, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
  • Online:2012-10-25 Published:2012-10-26
  • Contact: Wenhuai TIAN

Abstract:

To give a further research on strengthening mechanism of binary Fe-Cu alloys dur­ing the aging process, the compositions, size distributions and volume fractions of precipitates were investigated by carbon extraction replicas. Both the size and the volume fraction of precipitates increase with the aging time prolonged. The precip­itate sizes are corresponding with Weibull distribution. The stability of the sample aged for 35 min is worse than that aged for 1800 min and 18000 min. The precipi­tate is Cu-rich phase in the early aging process, and Cu content increases with the prolonging aging time. Before aging peak, the precipitation of Cu-rich phase plays a dominant role in strengthening. The growth and the change in crystal structure of the precipitate particles are the main factors leading to the decrease in strengthening after the aging peak.

Key words: Volume fraction, Precipitates, Carbon extraction replicas, Weibull distribution