Microstructural Characterization of Creep Tested Cryomilled NiAl-13vol. % AlN

Cryomilling of prealloyed NiAl powders, followed by extrusion, has been used to produce a particulate strengthened NiAl-13vol.% AlN material. At 1300 K, the compressive strain rate-flow stress diagram has two distinct deformation regimes, with the transition occurring near 150 MPa. The low and the high stress regimes have power law creep exponents of ∼ 6.1 and 14.2, respectively. Microstructural characterization of the as-extruded and tested samples has been performed to develop an understanding of the superior mechanical properties of the material. The microstructure of the as-extruded material was inhomogeneous and consisted of mantle regions containing a mixture of small NiAl grains (diameter ∼ 50–150 nm) and fine AlN particles (size ∼ 5–50 nm) that surround larger NiAl grains (diameter ∼ 0.3–8.0 μm) which were mostly particle free. In the low-stress regime, samples tested to steady state exhibited a structure composed of subgrain boundaries in the particle-free NiAl grains. In addition, some of the subgrains had developed a well defined dislocation network. AlN patricles occasionally found within large NiAl grains acted as pinning centers for dislocations. Small NiAl grains and the AlN particles constituting the mantle coarsened during these tests. In the high-stress regime, samples tested to steady state exhibited a high density of dislocations in most of the particle-free NiAl grains. Subgrain boundaries were found occasionally but dislocation networks were rare. The AlN particles had not significantly coarsened due to the shorter times at temperature.