PARTICLE STRENTHENING

-PRECIPITATION AND DISPERSION STRENGTHENING

Course Coordinator
Dr C SASIKUMAR, Assistant Professor , Department of MME, MANIT Bhopal
Precipitation and Dispersion Strengthening : Orowan looping
Precipitation and Dispersion Strengthening : Orowan looping

t t t
t t
b L b b
b b
Precipitation and Dispersion Strengthening
 Precipitation Hardening
 Dispersion Hardening
- Interaction of particles with dislocations
– Dispersed or precipitated particles can increase the strength
of a solid by impeding dislocation motion.
The particles can be precipitates, which are
natural.
They can also be things like dispersed oxide or
carbide particles which are not necessarily natural.
 Particle hardening is generally a more potent
way to strengthen a material than solid solution
hardening.
Precipitates and dispersoids are usually more
effective barriers to dislocation penetration than
single solutes
 Precipitation and Dispersion Strengthening - Example

(a) θ precipitates (at grain boundaries) (c) γ ’ precipitates and aged

(b) Al3Li precipitates in Al–Li alloy
and θ’ precipitates (in grain interior) in carbides in a superalloy
(TEM, dark field).
Al–Cu alloy.
Precipitation and Dispersion Strengthening - Example

Change in hardness with time of various Al–Cu alloys

aged at 130 ◦C.
 What determines the degree of strengthening?

– Particle size

– Inter-particle distance

- Particle volume fraction

– Particle shape

– Nature of the interface between the particle and the matrix

– Structure of the particle

Dispersion Hardening
 Dispersion-hardening : Hard particles such as oxides, carbides, borides, nitrides etc., are
added in a soft metallic matrix.
 The volume fraction of dispersoids in dispersion strengthened metals is generally low,
i.e. about 3-4% maximum.
 Fine, hard, particles act as obstacles to dislocation motion in the metal and thus
strengthen the metal or alloy without affecting its stiffness.
 Improvements in strength, especially at high temperatures, also result, but at the expense
of ductility and toughness.
 Examples : dispersion-strengthened systems - Al2O3 in Al, Cu, ThO2 in Ni.
Dispersion Hardening
 TD Nickel - Oxide dispersion-strengthened nickel.
 Very small spherical particles (20-- 30 nm in diameter) of thorium dioxide (ThO2) are
dispersed in nickel matrix by powder metallurgical processing.
Dispersion Hardening
 The advantage of dispersion-hardened systems is their
thermal stability i.e. the stability of the dispersoids.
Thus, dispersion-hardened systems maintain high
strength at high temperatures, at which precipitates tend to
dissolve in the matrix.
Figure illustrates the differences between strengthening
by precipitation and by dispersion-hardening.
Nickel-based superalloys IN792 and MAR M200 are
precipitation-hardened by γ’ or γ “ precipitates having
compositions of Ni3Nb and Ni3Al, respectively.
The TD nickel, on the other hand, contains a fine Comparison of yield strength of dispersion-
dispersion of ThO2, a high-melting-point oxide that is hardened thoria-dispersed (TD) nickel with
insoluble in the matrix. two nickel-based superalloys strengthened by
precipitates (IN-792) and directionally
solidified (DS) MAR M 200.
Precipitation Hardening
Figure shows a part of the phase diagram of the Al--Cu
system in which precipitation-hardening can occur.

The precipitation treatment consists of the following

steps:
1. Solubilization. This involves heating the alloy to the
monophase region and maintaining it there for a sufficiently
long time to dissolve any soluble precipitates.
2. Quenching. This involves cooling the single-phase alloy
very rapidly to room temperature or lower so that the
formation of stable precipitates is avoided. Thus, one
obtains a supersaturated solid solution.
3. Aging. This treatment consists of leaving the
supersaturated solid solution at room temperature or at a
slightly higher temperature.
It results in the appearance of fine precipitates.
Precipitation-Hardening Systems
Precipitation Hardening
Different crystallographic relationships between matrix and
second phase. Complete coherency. Coherency with
strained, but continuous, lattice planes across the boundary.
Semicoherent, partial continuity of lattice planes across the
interface. Incoherent equilibrium precipitate, θ; no continuity
of lattice planes across the interface
Precipitation Hardening
aging sequence as follows: supersaturated solid solution → transition structures → aged phase.
In the initial stages of the aging treatment, zones that are coherent with the matrix appear. These
zones are nothing but clusters of solute atoms on certain crystallographic planes of the matrix.
 In the case of aluminum--copper, the zones are a clustering of copper atoms on [100] planes of
aluminum. The zones are transition structuring and are referred to as Guinier--Preston zones, or GP
zones,
The GP zones are very small and have a very small lattice mismatch with the aluminum matrix.
Thus, they are coherent with the matrix; that is, the lattice planes cross the interface in a continuous
manner.
Such coherent interfaces have very low energies, but there are small elastic coherency strains in the
matrix. As these coherency strains grow, the elastic energy associated with them is reduced by the
formation of semicoherent zones where dislocations form at the interface to take up the misfit strain.
Further growth of the semicoherent zones, or precipitates, results in a complete loss of coherency:
An incoherent interface forms between the precipitate and the matrix.
Origin of coherency strains in precipitation strengthened
material
Orowan looping

Obstruction of dislocation motion by

uniformly distributed non-shearing particles
Orowan Model-Force balance on a dislocation bowed between two particle
 The stress required to bow a dislocation between two particles
is greatest when the dislocation is semicircular.
 At that point, twice the line tension (≈Gb2) equals the force on
the dislocation, τbd.
 Then 2Gb2 = τbd or τ = 2Gb/d,
 which is identical to the equation for operation of a Frank–Read source. The distance between particles, d,
replaces the distance between pinning points.
 After the dislocation bows between the particles it rejoins other bowed segments and passes on, leaving a loop
around each particle.
 These loops in turn repel subsequent dislocations, effectively decreasing the value of d. The result is that a
higher stress is required for them to pass. This explains the very high initial rate of strain-hardening in age-
hardened alloys.
 Then the area fraction of precipitaes equals the volume fraction, Vf = πr 2/d 2.
 Solving for d = r (π/Vf) 1/2, and substituting into Equation τ = 2Gb(Vf/π) 1/2 /r.
 Since the increase of tensile yield strength, σ, caused by the precipitate particles is proportional to the shear
stress, τ, σ = αGbVf 1/2 /r, where α is a constant.
 This predicts that the strength increases with increasing volume fraction and decreasing particle size.
Dislocation shearing precipitate
 The increase in the energy of the particle is πr20 γ.
 Then in the absence of any thermally activated process, the stress τ shear necessary to
move a dislocation of length x from A to B by particle shear is obtained as follows.
A dislocation under an applied stress τ shear has a force per unit length of τ shear b on it;
therefore, the dislocation of length x will have a force of τ shear bx on it.
When the dislocation moves through a distance equal to the particle diameter ( 2r0), the
work done by this force is τ shear bx 2r0.
This work must equal the surface energy of the interface created by cutting of the particle,
viz., πr20 γ. Thus, we can write

 We can make an estimate of inter-particle spacing x as follows.

 the volume fraction of precipitate as

Hence, the stress required to shear precipitates is

 Stress is function only of the volume fraction and radius

Transition from cutting to bowing
 Assuming a constant precipitate volume fraction, the following
events occur.
 As particle size increases, it becomes more difficult for cutting
to occur.
 This means it becomes more difficult for dislocations to pass
through particles. Coherency is also lost.
 The difficulty of cutting arises from: The increase in the σ = αGbVf 1/2 /r
amount of work that is required to shear a larger precipitate.
 Also, the mean spacing between particles increases which
causes the shear stress required to cause bowing to decrease.
 In general, particles that are smaller than some critical size are
“sheared.” This means that dislocations cut through them.
 When particles are larger than the critical size, they are
bypassed by “Orowan looping/bowing.
Problem 1
 Consider a precipitation-strengthened aluminum alloy. After an appropriate heat treatment, the
microstructure of the alloy consists of precipitates with a mean spacing of 0.2 μm. Compute the
shear stress required for Orowan bowing of dislocations in this material.
 For aluminum, we have the following data:
 Lattice parameter a0 = 0.4 nm, Shear modulus = 30 GPa.

 Solution:
 The shear stress for Orowan bowing is given by τ ≈ 2Gb/d
 The Burgers vector for aluminum (FCC) is b = √2 a/2 = √2 x 0.4 / 2 nm = 0.29 nm.
 d = 0.2 μm,
 τ = 2x 30 x109 × 0.28 109 / (0.2 × 10−6 ) = 42.42 MPa
Problem 2
 Consider a dispersion-strengthened alloy with average interparticle spacing of λ. If Nv is the
number of particles per unit volume, d is the mean particle diameter, and f is the volume fraction
of particles, then show that λ ≈ d[(1/2 f ) 1/3 − 1].

 Solution:
 Let r be the mean radius of the particle, i.e., 2r = d.
 Then the number of particles per unit volume, Nv = f/(4πr 3/3), or 1/Nv = 4πr3/3f.
 Taking the cube root of both sides, we obtain

 Now, the interparticle spacing λ is the average center-to-center spacing between two particles,
less a particle diameter, i.e., λ = 1/(Nv ) 1/3 − d.
 Hence, λ = d(π/6 f ) 1/3 − d ≈ d[(1/2 f ) 1/3 − 1].