Papers by Author: Yan Niu

Abstract: Small amounts of silver have been added to the intermetallic compound β-NiAl for the purpose of improving its mechanical properties. Four ternary NiAl-Ag alloys NiAl-0.5Ag, NiAl-1Ag, NiAl-5Ag and NiAl-10Ag (at.%), and an Ag-free β-NiAl have been oxidized at 900oC for 24 h in 1 atm O2 to study the effect of the presence of silver on the oxidation of β-NiAl. The kinetics of all the alloys were generally composed of two main parabolic stages with slightly larger parabolic rate constants for the second stage, except for NiAl-10Ag, which has an instantaneous parabolic rate constant decreasing with time. A continuous external layer of Al2O3 formed on all the alloys. In particular, the scales formed on NiAl-5Ag and NiAl-10Ag contained a thin and discontinuous layer of silver at the alloy/Al2O3 interface. Furthermore, NiAl-10Ag formed also isolated Ag particles or even a discontinuous Ag layer occasionally surmounting the Al2O3 scale. The addition of minor amounts of silver does not affect significantly the oxidation of β-NiAl, because silver is essentially present as a second phase due to its very small solubility in this intermetallic compound.

Abstract: The effect of the addition of 5 and 10 at.% Cr on the oxidation of a binary Fe-10 at.% Al alloy (Fe-10Al) was studied in 1 atm O2 at 1000°C. Fe-10Al underwent a very slow initial nearly-parabolic stage followed by a breakaway composed of two subsequent parabolic stages with a smaller rate constant for the final period. The two ternary alloys (Fe-5Cr-10Al and Fe-10Cr-10Al) presented two parabolic stages with final rate constants similar to each other and much lower than that for Fe-10Al. The alumina scale developed initially on Fe-10Al was replaced later by a layered scale containing mixtures of Fe and Al oxides plus many Fe-rich oxide nodules. Fe-5Cr-10Al was mostly covered by a thin alumina layer just above the alloy surface with some Fe-rich nodules formed in the beginning of oxidation, which later on were healed by alumina with a large decrease of the oxidation rate. A continuous alumina layer formed on the whole sample surface without any Fe-rich nodule for Fe-10Cr-10Al. Therefore, the addition of chromium is obviously beneficial for the oxidation resistance of Fe-10Al by inhibiting the formation of fast-growing Fe-containing oxides and promoting the development of an exclusive alumina layer. However, the effect of chromium is different from the classical third-element effect.