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Using first-principles calculations in combination with Wagner–Schottky and kinetic Monte Carlo methods, the diffusion behaviors of solutes via various vacancy-mediated diffusion mechanisms in
Presently, there exist a large number of experimental works on self-diffusion and solute diffusion in model Ni3Al intermetallic compound measured in a wide temperature range.[12–21] Some of these data sets were studied using tracer techniques.[12–14] Unfortunately, direct experimental measurements on the Al self-diffusion in Ni3Al suffer from the lack of a suitable radiotracer Al. Thus, interdiffusion coefficients were measured using diffusion couples.[19,22,23] Due to the different concentrations of thermal defects (vacancies and anti-structure atoms) and sophisticated diffusion mechanisms in ordered intermetallics, the available data on the solute diffusion show a marked deviation and are often incomplete in the case of diffusion for alloying elements in ternary alloys. Therefore, a systematically theoretical investigation on the diffusion of alloying elements in ordered intermetallic compounds is important, not only from the fundamental scientific standpoint for gaining a deeper insight into the microscopic diffusion mechanisms, but also with the purpose of practical aspects for designing superior Ni-based superalloys.
In this work, we employed density functional theory (DFT) calculations to study the formation energy of point defects and migration barriers of ternary additions (Ti, Nb, Ta, Cr, Co, Mo, W, Re, Ru) in Ni3Al. In addition, several potential diffusion mechanisms were also taken into account and the diffusivity of Ni, Al, and solutes was predicted by using kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations. This also provides the knowledge for the diffusion behavior of alloying elements in other L12 structure intermetallics (e.g., Co3(Al,W)).
Density-functional theory implementing in the Vienna ab-initio simulation package (VASP)[24] was used to investigate the vacancy formation and migration energies. All calculations were performed using the projector augmented-wave method[25,26] and the generalized gradient approximation in the Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof form (GGA-PBE).[27] The minimum plane wave energy cutoff was 350 eV. A first-order Methfessel–Paxton smearing method[28] was used with a smearing width of SIGMA = 0.2 eV. The convergence accuracy of the total energies of electronic self-consistency was 10−5 eV. The Brillouin zone integration was performed with a 5 × 5 × 5 Monkhorst–Pack[29] k-point scheme. Full ionic relaxation was performed until the maximum Hellmann–Feynman force was lower than 0.02 eV/Å. The vacancy formation and migration energies in the Ni–Al–M ternary systems were calculated in a 3 × 3 × 3 (108 lattice sites) L12-Ni3Al supercell.
In the metal crystals, the dominant mechanism for the diffusion of matrix atoms and substitutional solutes is the vacancy mechanism.[30] Each atom moving through the crystal by this mechanism should satisfy two requirements: (i) a vacancy must exist at the first neighbor of the jumping atom, (ii) the thermal activation is sufficient to make an adjacent atom exchange with a vacancy. The exchange jump rate of atoms jumping into a particular neighboring site with the vacancy mechanism can be expressed as[30]
In the L12-Ni3Al ordered structure as illustrated in Fig.
Based on the harmonic transition state theory (hTST),[33–36] the jump rate can be expressed as
According to the Einstein–Smoluchowski (ES) relation,[30] the coefficient of diffusion is directly related with the mean square displacement of atoms and can be written as
As mentioned above, the fractions of the Al and the Al-substituting solutes on the Ni sublattice should be considered. Then, the exchange jump rate can be obtained as
Introducing the exchange jump rate
The concentrations of point defects and the jump rate were included in the kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) model[34,38] to calculate the diffusion rate at any particular temperature. Details of the KMC simulations can be found in our previous publication.[36]
The point-defect formation energies
In multi-component superalloys, a variety of alloying elements dissolve in Ni3Al. Therefore, the solutes can influence the formation of Ni and Al vacancies and antisite atoms in Ni3Al. In order to gauge the maximum effect of the solutes on the point-defect energy, the solutes were placed in the NN positions of the point defect. Table
It is known that vacancy-mediated diffusion is governed by the vacancy formation and vacancy-atom exchange process. The formation vacancy is a prerequisite for alloying element diffusion and the concentration of point defects may influene the diffusion rate.
In the L12 ordered Ni3Al intermetallic compounds, certain vacancy-mediated diffusion mechanisms possibly work, such as six-jump-cycle (6JC), sublattice assisted diffusion (AS), antistructure bridge (ASB), etc.[45] The 6JC consists of six jumps and the energy barrier for the cycle is higher than the other mechanisms,[40] so the important diffusion mechanisms relevant to the diffusion behavior of Al in Ni3Al are AS and ASB jump as shown in Fig.
The calculated migration energy barrier of elementary jumps for Ni and Al in Ni3Al is listed in Table
Figures
The schematics of the possible jump pathways and MEP plots for AS and ASB mechanisms for solutes diffusion in Ni3Al are shown in Fig.
Obviously, the AS mechanism has a lower energy barrier than the other candidate mechanisms for elemental (except Co) diffusion. However, the alloying element must occupy the Ni sublattice and a Ni vacancy must occupy the NN position of the solutes for this jump to occur. These restrictions will likely result in a lower jump rate of the solute atoms compared to Ni atoms because most solutes exhibit a strong Al site preference in the ordered L12 structure for multi-component superalloys. Due to Co occupying either Al or Ni sublattice in the ordered
As shown in Table
According the theoretical works on the diffusion in Ni3Al, the Ni/Al self-diffusion and the solute diffusion are determined by the following main parameters:[12,43] the Ni vacancy concentration
It is worth noting here that, the site preference of solutes in L12 Ni3Al is a function of alloy composition and temperature,[52,53] and there will be a certain concentration of anti-structure atoms for solutes. Therefore, the absence of formation energy for anti-structure defects may be the reason that the activation energy of solutes obtained in the first-principles study is less than the experimental results. If the solutes occupy the Ni sublattice, the fraction of M atoms
By first-principles calculations with the KMC methods, the diffusion behavior of solutes via various vacancy-mediated diffusion mechanisms in L1
The
To account for the available experimental data on the solute diffusion, various diffusion mechanisms for solutes contribute to the diffusivity in Ni3Al. The concentration of antisite defects plays a crucial role in the elemental diffusion and determines which diffusion mechanism gives the predominant contribution.
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