Strengthening from second phase

Many commercial alloys are composed of two or

more metallurgical phases which provide
strengthening effects:

• Two phase aggregates

• Second phase/intermetallic particles
• Precipitation hardening
• Coherent precipitation hardening
• Incoherent precipitation hardening
• Fibering structure

Note: 1)These are heterogeneous on a microscopic scale or maybe

homogeneous on a macroscopic scale.
2)Strengthening from second phases is normally additive to the
solid solution strengthening produced in the matrix.
Strengthening by two-phase
aggregates

The size of the second phase particles

are of similar size to that of the matrix.
Examples :
• Beta brass particles in an alpha
brass matrix
• Pearlite colonies in the ferrite
Two-phase aggregates matrix in annealed steels
(will be discussed in later in
Chapter of Phase Diagrams)
Strengthening by two-phase
aggregates
Strengthening by second phase
particles
Strengthening by second phase
particles
• The second phase or intermetallic
particles are much finer (down to
submicroscopic dimensions) than the grain
size of the matrix.
• The second phase particles produce
localised internal stresses which alter the
plastic properties of the matrix.
• Examples :

Dispersed second-phase
particles in the matrix.
Carbonitride particles
in steel
 Second-
phase
particle
strengthening
Strengthening effect of Dispersed Second Phase Particles

(f constant)

Interparticle
Spacing:

Relationship between Ds and l ??

(f constant)
Estimate flow stress of two-phase
alloy
• The average property in the two-phase alloy will increase
with the volume fraction Vf of the stronger phase.

0.0 f2 0.0 f2
1
0.5 f2 0.5 f2
 1.0 f2  1.0 f2 f1: Vol. fraction of the second phase
2 At equal
stress particles
At equal strain f2: Vol. fraction of the matrix = 1 – f1
1 2
 
(a) At equal strain (b) At equal
stress

• It is more often that the second phase is stronger

than the matrix but not all second-phase particles
produce strengthening effects.
• The strong bonding between particles and matrix is
required to be able to produce strengthening effects.
Precipitation hardening
• The precipitation hardening mechanism requires the solubility of the alloying
element, the solute, in the metal, the solvent or the matrix, to increase as the
temperature increases as shown in the phase diagram in Figure (next slide) where
the solvus line shows decreasing solubility of alloying element B in the solvent A as
the temperature falls
• Once the precipitates have been dissolved by taking the metal alloy to a sufficiently
high temperature, i.e. above the solvus line, they can be prevented from re-forming
by rapid cooling or quenching
• This heat treatment is known as solution treatment and is carried out to form an
unstable supersaturated solid solution which, if reheated to a lower ageing or
precipitation hardening temperature, will begin to re-form the precipitates, these
growing in size as the heat treatment proceeds. A schematic of such a heat
treatment cycle is also given in Figure for an alloy N
• In the solution-treated metal the atoms of the alloying element, the solute, are
randomly distributed throughout the matrix but once the temperature is raised the
precipitates begin to form by a nucleation and growth process
• At relatively low temperatures and in a short time-scale the solute atoms begin to
cluster together to form extremely small and very finely dispersed precipitates
known as Guinier-Preston (GP) zones, named after the two metallurgists who first
identified them
Precipitation hardening
Precipitation hardening mechanism
• The GP zones are described as coherent, in other words they have the same crystal
structure as the solvent metal (planes of matrix and particles have a close
matching)
• However, they distort the crystal lattice, which makes it more difficult for dislocations to
move thus increasing both the yield and the ultimate tensile strength and hardness
• As the ageing treatment continues or the temperature is raised the yield and tensile
strength also continue to increase as the precipitates grow and coarsen whilst still
remaining coherent
• At some point, however, the precipitates begin to lose their coherency; they become
incoherent, forming separate particles within the metal with a different crystal structure
from the matrix (at different temperatures, different phases within the particle are
stable)
• As these incoherent particles form and grow in size the yield strength progressively
decreases (the alloy then is said to be overaged), although the precipitates still contribute
towards the increasing ultimate tensile strength of the alloy (why??)
• The high strength low alloy (HSLA) steels are a good example of this where incoherent,
overaged precipitates are used to give a substantial increase in the ultimate tensile
strength
• In order to achieve the best combination of properties the precipitates need to be evenly
distributed throughout the grains of the alloy and of an optimum size
• Longer times and/or higher temperatures generally result in a reduction in yield strength
• The dislocations can loop around the
incoherent precipitates thus strengthening
reduces (Orowan mechanism)
High Resolution Micrographs of GP Zones
Interaction between fine particles and
dislocations
Second phase particles act in two distinct ways to retard the motion of
dislocations:
1) Particles maybe cut by 2) Particles allow dislocation to
dislocation bypass/bow around them

Orawan’s
mechanism of
precipitation or
dispersion
hardening

When the precipitate In over aged (non-coherent) precipitate

particles are small / particles, bowing of dislocations around
soft (coherent) particles leaving dislocation loops behind

Stress required to force Gb

o 
dislocation between particles 
Coherency Precipitation hardening mechanism
g: dislocation line tension
(Jm-2)
r: particle radius
b: Burgers vector magnitude
L: interparticle spacing
Dt: requires shear stress
Orowan Mechanism of Precipitation and
Dispersion Hardening (Non-coherent particles)
Orowan Model
• For a periodic array of obstacles whose spacing is L, the
Critical Resolved Shear Stress (CRSS) above which a
dislocation can penetrate the array of obstacles is often
represented by:

where b denotes the Burgers vector length of a dislocation, g

is the dislocation line tension, L is the obstacle spacing and
fc is the critical angle at dislocation breakaway (depinning)

• This model is assumes constant line tension

• The line tension is given by elasticity theory and is often
written as Gb2/2, where G represents the shear modulus
Deformation of alloys with precipitation
strengthening
Case study in deformation of Al-4.5%Cu single crystal

• After solution treated and quenched, copper

Aged to peak
is in supersaturated solid solution, giving hardness
higher yield stress than pure aluminium. Aged to form

Shear stress
GP zone
• The yield stress increases when the crystal is Over aged

aged to form coherent GP zone Solid solution

• Yield drop and low strain hardening suggest that
dislocations cut through the zone once the Pure aluminium
stress reaches a high enough value Shear strain

• Strain hardening significantly increases Over-aged condition produces

when the crystal is overaged to since the coarse noncoherent particles,
dislocations have to bow around the particles giving low yield stress but high
resulting in additional number of dislocations which strain hardening (why?)
block the motion of other dislocations
Orowan Mechanism of Precipitation and
Dispersion Hardening (Non-coherent particles)
 Strength and moduli of
composites
The rule of mixtures is used to approximate the modulus
and strength of a fibre-reinforced composite.

If a tensile force P is applied

in the direction of the fibre,
and assuming that the strain
of fibre and matrix are similar,
e f = e m = ec .

P  f Af   m …Eq. 11
Am
Where A f and A m are the cross-
sectional areas of fibre and matrix.
• The load is
transferred from
ductile matrix to
strong fibres
• Breakage or pull-out
of fibres increase the
strength
Note: the deformation texture cannot in general be eliminated by an annealing
operations