Interphase boundary fracture and grain boundary precipitation of Ni3Al(γ′) phase in β-NiAl bicrystals Original Research Article

The effect of the crystallography of film-like Ni3Al(γ′) precipitates along grain boundaries of NiAl(β) on the fracture stress at room temperature was examined using β bicrystals with controlled orientations. The selected variant of γ′-film satisfied the Kurdjumov–Sachs (K–S) relation with a neighbouring β crystal, and deviated from the relation with an adjacent β crystal. In the course of tensile deformation at ambient temperature, fracture occurred preferentially at the (β/γ′) interphase boundary deviating from the K–S relation, which showed no plastic flow, and the fracture stress decreased with increasing deviation angle. In contrast, slip transfer from γ′-film to β crystal across coherent (β/γ′) interface was observed, when the variant of γ′-film satisfied the K–S relation with both neighbouring β crystals. To clarify the relation between the interphase boundary fracture and the deviation angle from the K–S relation, the boundary structure of incoherent (β/γ′) interfaces was discussed using O-lattice theory and transmission electron microscopic observations.