Characterization of microstructures and age hardening of Fe1−2xAlxVx alloys

Abstract The Fe-rich corner of the Fe–Al–V system has shown phase separation into disordered A2 and ordered L2 1 phases. In a former work we model this ordering reaction by using ab-initio thermodynamics. The approach is now employed to suggest the Fe 1−2 x Al x V x alloys in order to reduce the Al content by increasing the addition of vanadium looking for a better ductility of the solid solution which can be afterwards strengthened by coherent L2 1 precipitates. Four alloys with compositions in the range 0.08  X 1 ) occurs for 0.10  X 1 ) regions. The microstructure in the (A2 + L2 1 ) region consists of nanosized precipitates of L2 1 phase in A2 matrix which morphology evolutes with temperature and ageing time. The hardness values, measured at room temperature, for the alloys with X