Journal:Advanced Engineering Materials
Abstract:Oxide dispersion-strengthened (ODS) alloys have been widely studied due to their excellent high-temperature creep performance and good resistance to radiation damage. However, the conventional mechanical alloying process is associated with a prolonged preparation cycle, challenges in composition control, and limited reproducibility, posing significant obstacles to the compositional design of ODS alloys. Here, we propose a new strategy for effectively screening the composition, microstructure, and properties of Fe–14Cr–2Y2O3-based ODS alloys via a diffusion couple technique. A continuous Ti–Al composition gradient is established within a single diffusion couple, enabling simultaneous evaluation of multiple compositions under identical processing conditions. The inter-diffusivity along the diffusion path is determined for alloying elements with corresponding uncertainty quantification. A Ti/(Ti + Al) ratio of 0.7 is identified as optimal, yielding a high nanoparticle number density of 7.5 × 1022 m−3 and an average particle size of ~6 nm—performance metrics that significantly outperform those achieved at other ratios. Correspondingly, the Vickers hardness reaches a peak value of 315.8 HV at Ti/(Ti + Al) ≈0.77, attributed to the synergistic effects of dispersion strengthening and solid solution strengthening. This study establishes a rational, composition-driven strategy for the high-throughput design of ODS alloys tailored for nuclear applications, demonstrating that the diffusion couple technique can achieve rapid correlation and efficient screening of composition–microstructure–property relationships.
Co-author:Selina Yao, Qun Zou, Xiaoke Wu, Xingming Huang
First Author:Qingxiao Wu
Correspondence Author:Gemei Cai*, Le Fu*, Lijun Zhang*
Page Number:e71365
Translation or Not:no