Grain growth behavior of cryomilled INCONEL 625 powder during isothermal heat treatment

Nanocrystalline INCONEL 625 powders were fabricated via cryomilling (mechanical alloying under a liquid nitrogen environment), and their grain growth behavior during isothermal heat treatment was investigated in detail. The grain size after milling for 8 hours was approximately 22 nm, measured by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Along with this refined structure, the NiO and Cr2O3 oxide particles were distributed in the cryomilled material with average size of 3 nm. Following heat treatment at 800 °C, correspond to T/T m = 0.65, for 4 hours, the grain size was approximately 240 nm, which represents an improved grain stability compared to that of conventional INCONEL 625 and cryomilled pure Ni. The improved grain stability of cryomilled INCONEL 625 is originated from a particle pinning effect by the oxide particles in addition to solute drag. The grain stability of the cryomilled powders at 900 °C was better than that at lower temperatures. This behavior was attributed to the formation of two types of secondary particles that precipitated at this temperature, which were identified as spherical NbC carbides and cylindrical-shaped Ni3Nb intermetallic precipitates. These precipitates promote grain growth resistance at this particular temperature via a grain-boundary pinning effect. Contribution of 30 pct Nb solute atoms in alloy on the forming precipitates on grain boundary, the grain growth will be restricted to approximately 200 nm, on the basis of a Zener mechanism. This calculation is in qualitative agreement with the experimental results. The observation that precipitation kinetics were accelerated over those of conventional INCONEL 625 was rationalized on the basis of the shortened diffusion paths and more nucleation sites available in the nanocrystalline materials.