-Phase in Fe-Cr and Fe-V
Systems
Stanislaw M. Dubiel*
Faculty of Physics & Applied
Computer Science, AGH University,
Kraków
*dubiel@novell.ftj.agh.edu.pl
1
-Phase
The -phase (tetragonal structure, space group D144h – P42/mnm) is known
to exist only in alloy systems. Among 53 members of the -phase family in
binary alloys only two i.e. Fe-Cr and Fe-V have well documented magnetic
properties [1]. The -FeCr seems to be the most known member of the
family not only as the archetype, but also for technological reasons. The
latter follows from a deteriorating effect of the phase precipitation on
mechanical and corrosive properties of technologically important materials
based on Fe-Cr alloys e. g. loss of corrosion resistance and reduction of
ductility and toughness. Although the -FeCr and -FeV have been known
since many years, their physical properties, and, in particular, magnetic
ones, are not known satisfactorily, and the Debye temperature was
determined for the first time only recently [2]. There are only very few
theoretical papers on the issue available, which in a combination with a
complex crystallographic structure (30 atoms distributed randomly over five
different crystallographic sites with high coordination numbers) makes the
interpretation of experimental results very difficult.
[1] E. O. Hall and S. H. Algie, Metall. Rev., 11 (1966) 61
J. Cieslak et al., Phys. Rev. B, 65 (2002) 212301
[2]
2
Outline
• Crystallographic structure and -phase family
• Short history of -FeCr
• Formation and identification of -FeCr
• Debye temperature, D
• Curie temperature, TC
• Hyperfine field, B
• Correlations between B and 
• Magnetism of -phase in Fe-Cr and Fe-V
systems
3
Structure – Unit Cell
c
a
c
a
a
a
AA
BB
CC
DD
EEE
4
Structure – Sites
Site
number
Site
code
CN
ON
<d>[nm]
1
A
12
2
0.2508
2
B
15
4
0.2701
3
C
14
8
0.2652
4
D
12
8
0.2526
5
E
14
8
0.2638
CN - coordination number; ON- occupation number; <d> average nearest-neighbour distance
5
Structure – Sites
A
B
D
C
E
The plot shows all 5 sites with all their NN-neighbours. The geometry of the
NN-atoms is preserved. Note that atoms at B, D and E sites have all 5 different
atoms as their NN-neighbours, but atoms at A miss A and C NN-atoms, and
those at C sites miss A NN-atoms.
6
Structure – Site Occupancy
• Mössbauer spectroscopy (-FeCr)
Ba = 13.5 T; T = 4.2 K
Five different sites occupied by Fe atoms
J. Cieslak, M. Reissner, S. M. Dubiel, W. Steiner, 6th Seeheim Workshop on MS, 2006
7
Structure - Site Occupancy
• Neutron diffraction (---- FexV;  FexCr)
8
J. Cieslak et al., J. Alloys Comp., 460 (2008) 20
-Phase Family
• 53 cases in binary alloys e.g. FeV, FeNb,
FeTa, FeCr, FeMo, FeTc, FeRe

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Phase Diagram - FeV System
10
History of -FeCr
• 1923: Bain observed hard, brittle and nonmagnetic
phase (B-constituent) in FeCrNi alloy
• 1936: Jette & Foote gave the name „sigma”
• 1943: Cook & Jones recorded first XRD pattern
• 1954: Bergmann & Shoemaker established its crystal
structure
• 1981: Yakel determined site occupancy
• 1995: Kawazoe et al. published first theoretical paper
E. O. Hall and S. H. Algie, Metall. Rev., 11 (1966) 61
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Identification of -FeCr
• T = 295 K
XRD
ME

NEUTRONS




The difference in the isomer shift between  and  amounts to ca. -0.1 mm/s
J. Cieslak et al.. J. Alloys Comp., 460 (2008) 20
12
Kinetics of Transformation
• -FeCr
• Isothermal annealing at ~ 530  T  ~ 830oC


n
E  ( kt) ]
A  100 1k  k exp[
exp( 
)
Ta = 700oC
o
RT
E
k  ko exp( 
)
RT
E = 196 ± 2 kJ/mol
13
A. Blachowski, S. M. Dubiel and J. Zukrowski, Intermetallics, 9 (2001) 493
Debye Temperature, ΘD
• -FeCr
T[K]
60
40
20
3kT  3 D  T 
 IS  (T )  
 3 
2mc  8T
 D 

3 D T

0

x3
dx 
x
e 1 

4.2
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Debye Temperature, ΘD
ΘD [K]
• -FeV + -FeCr
There is a linear increase of TD with x for x  45 for both V and Cr
J. Cieslak et al., J. Phys.: Condens. Matter., 17 (2005) 6889
15
Curie Temperature, Tc
• Mössbauer effect (-FeCr) - from line width, G
(a) 4.2 K; (b) 295 K
(a) x = 45.0, (b) x = 46.2 and (c) x = 48.0
16
J. Cieslak et al., J. Magn. Magn. Mater., 272-276 (2004) 534
Curie Temperature, Tc
• Mössbauer effect (-FeV34) - from average hf. field
TC = 323 K
J. Cieslak, B. F. O. Costa, S. M. Dubiel, M. Reissner, W. Steiner, ICAME2008
17
Curie Temperature, Tc
• -FeV
-FeCr
There is a non-linear decrease of TC with vanadium content
18
J. Cieslak, B. F. O. Costa, S. M. Dubiel, M. Reissner, W. Steiner, ICAME2008
<B> -  Relationship
<B>  a 
<B> = a  + BCEP
Lack of linearily speaks for important contribution from conduction electrons
J. Cieslak, B. F. O. Costa, S. M. Dubiel, M. Reissner, W. Steiner, ICAME2008
19
Models of -FeCr Magnetism
• Ferrimagnetism
1 = 2.0 B
2 = 1.5 B
B1 = 18 T B2 = 13 T
Bexp  4 T
• Band-magnetism
M M B ((nnn) n )
B


20
Models of -FeCr Magnetism
• Band-magnetism
Lack of saturation
Rhodes - Wohlfarth plot
4K
-FeCr
Both plots give evidence for itinerant magnetism in the -FeCr
21
Models of -FeCr Magnetism
Rhodes – Wohlfarth plot
µeff
/µs
Fe50.5Cr49.5
Fe53.8Cr46.2
Systems for which eff/s > 1 have itinerant character of magnetism
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Conclusions
 Mössbauer spectroscopy is very useful to study magnetic and
dynamic properties of the -phase in Fe-Cr and Fe-V systems, as
well as the kinetics of -to- transformation.
All measured quantities (TD, TC, and <B>) depend sensitively on
Cr, V content, x);
• TD increases at the rate of ~15 K/at% (x 45) for both systems
• TC and <B> decrease non-linearly with x
• <B> is non-lineraly correlated with 
Magnetism of -FeCr (V) seems to obey itinerant model due to;
• lack of saturation
• Rhodes - Wohlfarth plot
• non-linear relationship <B> - .
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More to read
• G. Bergman and D. P. Shoemaker, Acta Cryst., 7 (1954) 857
• H. L. Yakel, Acta Cryst., B39 (1983) 20; ibid, B39 (1983) 28
• H. H. Ettwig and W. Pepperhoff, Arch. Eisenhuttenwes., 43 (1972) 271
• Y. Sumimoto et al., J. Phys. Soc. Jpn., 35 (1973) 461
• A. M. van der Kraan et al., Phys. Stat. Sol. (a), 88 (1985) 231
• R. Vilar and G. Cizeron, Acta Metall., 35 (1987) 1229
• A. Gupta et al., Hyper. Inter., 54 (1990) 805
• B. F. O. Costa and S. M. Dubiel, Phys. Stat. Sol. (a), 139 (1993) 83
• B. F. O. Costa et al., Phys. Stat. Sol. (a), 161 (1997) 349
• J. Cieslak, S. M. Dubiel and B. Sepiol, Sol. Stat. Commun., 111 (1999) 613
• J. Cieslak, S. M. Dubiel and B. Sepiol, Hyper. Inter., 126 (2000) 187
• A. Blachowski et al., J. Alloys Comp., 308 (2000) 189; ibid, 313 (2000) 182
• A. Blachowski et al., Intermetallics, 8 (2000) 963
• J. Cieslak et al., J. Alloys Comp., 460 (2008) 20
• J. Cieslak et al., J. Phys.: Condens Matter., 20 (2008) 235234
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