Journal of Materials Science, Vol.55, No.29, 14588-14610, 2020
Trans-interface-diffusion-controlled coarsening of gamma ' particles in Ni-Al alloys: commentaries and analyses of recent data
Recently published data on coarsening of gamma' precipitates in a binary Ni-Al alloy are critically reviewed within the framework of the trans-interface diffusion-controlled theory of particle coarsening. These data are shown to be remarkably consistent in every respect with the predictions of theory using the temporal exponent n = 2.2, which was arrived at by fitting experimental histograms and experimental cumulative distribution functions to their theoretical counterparts. This is the best procedure for evaluating the temporal exponent n, but plotting the average radius, < r >, as < r >(n) versus aging time t is a suitable alternative. Semiquantitative agreement is obtained with all the data, including the kinetics of solute depletion as well as the temporal dependencies of the volume fraction and number density, N-v. The inverse time dependency of N-v is shown once again to be incorrect, failing the simplest test of internal consistency, specifically constancy of the product N(v)t. The notion that there exists a "quasi-stationary'' regime of gamma' precipitate coarsening is seriously questioned and shown to be untenable. Analysis of the data enables quantitative prediction of the interfacial free energy, sigma. In combination with previous work, this provides the first concrete experimental evidence for a linear decrease of sigma with increasing temperature.