Effect of Higher Silicon Content and Heat Treatment on Structure Evolution and High-Temperature Behaviour of...

This paper describes the structure and properties of cast Fe₃Al-based alloy doped with 15 at. % of silicon and 2 at. % of molybdenum. The higher content of silicon is useful for the enhancement of high-temperature mechanical properties or corrosion resistance of iron aluminides but deteriorates their workability due to increased brittleness. It was found that the presence of both alloying elements leads to an increase of values of the high-temperature yield stress in compression. The heat treatment (annealing at 800 °C for 100 h) used for the achievement of phase stability causes the grain coarsening, so the values of the high-temperature yield stress in compression are lower at 600 °C and 700 °C in comparison to values measured for the as-cast state. This stabilization annealing significantly improves the workability/machinability of alloy. Furthermore, the higher silicon content positively affects the values of the thermal expansion coefficient that was found to be lower in the temperature range up to 600 °C compared to alloys with lower content of silicon.