PART XII – December 1967 – Papers - Grain Boundary Precipitation in Ag-5.64 wt pct Al Alloys

The formation of grain boundary precipitates has been studied in Ag-5.64 wt pcl Al alloys at 688°C. Large-grain specinzerzs were used and the boundary misorientation measured by X-ray diffraction. At low-angle grain boundrrries Primary sideplates form. u)hile abore a 17-deg misorientation lenticular precipitates predominate. Growth of the lenticular precipitates was studied on individual grain boundaries using a statistical technique. The thickening and lengthening rates appeared to be independent of &apos;pain boundary misorientation, indicating that grain boundary diffusion was not significant in this system. The precipitates grew urith constant shape, with both the length and thickness increasing parabolically with time. The parabolic lengthening rates were unexpected since previous theory and experimerztal results had indicated linear growth. By approximating the shape of the precipitate to that of an oblate spheroid grouling with constant shape an equivalent diffusion coefficienl was calculated. The zlalue obtained was in good agreement with nleasurements obtained fron, diffusiorz couples. IF a single-phase alloy is heated or cooled to a temperature such that the phase becomes supersaturated, there is a tendency for a second phase to precipitate from it in order to remove the supersaturation. Precipitation takes place initially on grain boundaries due to preferred heterogeneous nucleation, but subsequently Widmans kitten plates may form in the grain interiors if the grain size and supersaturation are sufficient. The type of grain boundary precipitate formed depends on the nature of the boundary. Aaronson1 and clark2 have shown that grain boundary misorientation can be characterized by the simple parameter R, where and X, Y, and Z represent the minimum rotations about three orthogonal axes required to bring the two lattices forming the grain boundary into coincidence. The maximum value for R is 60 deg. In using this parameter the orientation of the grain boundary itself is, of course, neglected. However it was found in both Fe-si3 and A1-Ag2 that the precipitate shape depended only on the parameter R. Clark found that the vast majority of precipitates formed were allo-triomorphs— lens-shaped precipitates that grew along the grain boundaries. At low-angle boundaries, however, (R < 15 deg) Widmanstatten sideplates nucleated at the grain boundaries and grew into the adjacent grains. It has been reported that the rate of growth of grain boundary precipitates is controlled by diffusion within the supersaturated phase.&apos; The theories which have been developed for growth rates have assumed the diffusion coefficient constant over the composition range of the supersaturated phase. This is a fairly good approximation if the composition range involved is not large. Thickening rates have been calculated using the theory developed by Zener4 and by Frank5 for the growth of planar precipitates. A parabolic growth law