Abstract
Using powder metallurgy sintered billet as raw material, Mo-47.5Re (wt%) foils with the thicknesses of 0.035 and 0.030 mm were obtained by multi-pass rolling and intermediate annealing. After hydrogen annealing at 1300–1900 °C, metallurgical microscopy, SEM and EDS were used to analyze the effect of annealing temperature on characteristics of σ-phase. EDS analysis indicates that Mo:Re atomic ratio of second phase in the ND direction approaches to 1:1, and that in the RD direction is close to or lower than 1:2, so the majority of second phase in Mo-47.5Re foils is σ-phase; but Mo:Re atomic ratio of second phase in the RD direction is relatively low, even reaching 1:4. The micrograph characteristics of Mo-47.5Re foil includes large grains, few deformation twins, and larger and more σ-phase particles in grains than at the grain boundary. The number of σ-phase in 0.035 and 0.030 mm thick foils increases first and then decreases with rasing annealing temperature. After annealing at 1300 °C, σ-phase number of 0.035-mm- sample reaches the maximum and the grain size is significantly reduced, while 0.030-mm-sample shows this phenomenon at 1500 °C. After annealing at 1900 °C, a few small-sized σ-phase particles remain in the RD direction of 0.030-mm-sample, and all σ-phase particles in the ND direction of 0.030-mm-sample and those in RD and ND directions of 0.035-mm-sample are totally redissolved and disappear. In as-rolled and relatively low-temperature annealed samples, such as 1300 °C, most σ-phase particles have irregular polygonal morphology, and a few of them are spherical. After annealing at 1500 °C and higher temperatures, σ-phase particles in some samples exhibit a cube shape.
For the purpose of simultaneously obtaining high strength-plasticit
It has been shown in Ref.[
Combining molybdenum-rhenium alloy thermo-dynamic model established by first-principle calculation
Therefore, σ-phase is a decisive factor for the excellent properties of high rhenium molybdenum-rhenium alloys, and its influence on the alloy properties depends largely on the morphology and distribution of its nucleation and precipitation during plastic working and heat treatment. However, due to high cost of metal rhenium, the application of molybdenum rhenium alloys is concentrated in specific fields such as aerospace and nuclear industry. At present, there are relatively few studies on molybdenum-rhenium alloys with high rhenium content, and most of them focus on the specific properties of the alloy. The research on microstructure, especially the characteristics include content, size, morphology and distribution of σ-phase inside the alloy is relatively lacking. In this study, Mo-47.5Re (wt%) foils with thicknesses of 0.035 and 0.030 mm obtained by powder metallurgy pressing, sintering and rolling deformation were annealed at different temperatures, and the influence of annealing temperature on the content, size, morphology and distribution of σ-phase in the alloy and its mechanism were studied.
Mo-47.5Re (wt%) slabs with a thickness of 10 mm pre-pared by powder metallurgy technology was processed by multiple passes of hot rolling, warm rolling, cold rolling and intermediate annealing to obtain 0.035 mm×60 mm×300 mm (referred to as 0.035-mm-sample) and 0.030 mm×60 mm×300 mm (referred to as 0.030-mm-sample) two rolled molybdenum-rhenium foils.
Molybdenum-rhenium foils with different thicknesses were annealed in a vacuum-hydrogen high temperature furnace. The temperature parameters were set as 1300, 1500, 1700 and 1900 °C. The heating rate was 10 °C/min, and holding time was 60 min. Subsequently the temperature was reduced to 1200 °C at 25 °C/min, and then the samples were cooled with the furnace.
The metallographic and SEM samples of 8 mm×10 mm (length×width) were cut along the rolling direction (RD) and the normal direction (ND) using a CNC wire-cutting machine. Because the sample B is thin, a copper sheet must be attached to the back of the sample in order to ensure the flatness, then ground and polished. And then the sample was corroded with an aqueous solution of 10wt% NaOH+10wt% Fe (KCN)3 for 2 min. A metallographic microscope (Zeiss Axiovision 200 MAT) was used to observe the microstructure of the sample. and the composition and element distribution of σ-phase were analyzed by EDS. Characterization of size distribution of σ particle was conducted by Nano Measurer analysis software. The crystal structure model of σ-phase was constructed by Crystalmaker.
The micro-Vickers hardness of molybdenum-rhenium foils before and after annealing was measured by digital micro-Vickers hardness tester (VTD405, Beijing Wowei). After the sample was inlaid, the sandpaper was used for grinding and polishing to remove the oxide and oil pollution on the surface, and then the hardness value was measured. The selected test load was 25 g and the loading time was 10 s.
Through the Mo-Re phase diagram, it can be found that although the theoretical chemical formula of σ-phase is gene-rally marked as MoRe2, in fact, Mo:Re can be ranged from 1:1 to 2:5. As shown in Fig.

Fig.1 Atomic ratios of Mo:Re (a), crystal structure (b), and EDS analysis of σ-phase in ND (c) and RD (d) of molybdenum-rhenium foils
According to the data comparison, the Mo:Re atomic ratio of second phase in ND of most samples is close to or slightly higher than 1:1, while that in RD is close to or lower than 1:2, so most of the second phase particles in molybdenum-rhenium foil are σ-phases. But obviously, the Mo:Re atomic ratio of second phase in the RD is relatively lower, even reaching 1:4.
As shown in

Fig.2 Metallographic microstructures of as-rolled samples with 0.035 mm (a, b) and 0.030 mm (c, d) in thickness in the ND
The SEM morphologies of σ-phase of 0.035 and 0.030 mm as-rolled samples in the ND and RD are shown in

Fig.3 σ-phase morphologies of 0.035 mm (a, b) and 0.030 mm (c, d) as-rolled samples in ND (a, c) and RD (b, d)
As shown in

Fig.4 σ-phase in the ND of 0.035-mm-sample at different annealing temperatures: (a) as-rolled, (b) 1300 °C, (c) 1500 °C, (d) 1700 °C, and (e) 1900 °C
Direction | 0.035-mm-sample | 0.030-mm-sample | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
As-rolled | 1300 °C-annealed | As-rolled | 1300 °C-annealed | |
ND | 440.5 | 392.6 | 461.5 | 448.9 |
RD | 409.6 | 392.5 | 434.5 | 404.6 |
Sample thickness/mm | As-rolled | 1300 °C | 1500 °C | 1700 °C | 1900 °C |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
0.035 | 3.6–4.6 | 1.5–2.2 | 4.5–5.5 | 1.4–2.2 | - |
0.030 | 3.8–5.5 | 3.8–6.0 | 2.2–3.1 | 2.2–3.4 | - |
Compared with that of 0.035-mm-sample, σ-phase in the ND of 0.030-mm-sample has different variation characteris-tics with the annealing temperature, as shown in

Fig.5 σ-phase in the ND of 0.030-mm-sample at different annealing temperatures: (a) as-rolled, (b) 1300 °C, (c) 1500 °C, (d) 1700 °C, and (e) 1900 °C
The microstructures of the two samples in different directions after annealing at 1900 °C are shown in

Fig.6 Morphologies in ND (a, c) and RD (b, d) of 0.035-mm-sample (a, b) and 0.030-mm-sample (c, d) annealed at 1900 °C

Fig.7 Comparison between the calculated Mo-Re phase diagram (in red edge blue bottom) with previous descriptions from Mathie
In this experiment, it is found that σ-phase exhibits different morphological characteristics after annealing at different temperatures. As shown in

Fig.8 Micromorphologies of σ-phase in ND of 0.035-mm-samples (a‒d) and 0.030-mm-samples (e‒h) at different annealing temperatures: (a, e) as-rolled, (b, f) 1300 °C, (c, g) 1500 °C, and (d, h) 1700 °C
Through the room temperature tensile tests of alloy foils
annealed at different temperatures, it is found that the change of σ-phase characteristics with annealing temperature is directly related to mechanical properties of Mo-47.5Re alloy. The tensile strength of the as-rolled 0.035-mm-samples and 0.030-mm-samples is higher than 840 MPa, and the fracture elongation is in the range of 2.5%–3.5%; after annealing at low temperatures of 1300–1500 °C, the tensile strength of the samples is still 750‒800 MPa; but after annealing at higher temperatures of 1700‒1900 °C, the tensile strength of the samples is significantly reduced to 610–640 MPa, but the fracture elongation increases to 5.0%–6.5%. From the discussion in the previous section, it can be concluded that the σ-phase will redissolve when annealed at 1500 °C and above. Therefore, it can be preliminarily inferred that the redissolution of the σ-phase caused by the change of the annealing process has a significant effect on the tensile strength of the alloy foil, but elongation is not sensitive to this.
1) Under the experimental conditions, the Mo:Re atomic ratio of the second phase in the ND of most molybdenum-rhenium foil samples is close to or higher than 1:1, and that in the RD is close to or lower than 1:2. So most of the second phase particles are σ-phase. But the Mo:Re atomic ratio of the second phase in the RD is lower, even reaching 1:4 individu-ally. This may be related to different crystal orientations in two directions of the foils after rolling with a large amount of deformation.
2) The microstructures of two rolled foil samples show the characteristics of large grain size, few deformation twins, and σ-phase with large number and size, and there are more σ- phase particles inside the grain than at the grain boundary. σ- phase in the ND of 0.030-mm-sample is obviously more than that of 0.035-mm-sample, indicating that stress and strain is important driving forces for the precipitation of σ-phase.
3) The σ-phase number in 0.035-mm-samples and 0.030-mm-samples increases first and then decreases with raising the annealing temperature. After 0.035-mm-sample is annealed at 1300 °C, σ-phase number reaches the maximum, but the size is significantly decreased, and the similar phenomenon of 0.030-mm-sample appears after annealing at 1500 °C. After annealing at 1900 °C, a few small-sized σ particles remain in the RD of 0.030-mm-sample, and all σ- phases in the ND of 0.030-mm-sample and in the RD and ND directions of 0.035-mm-sample are completely redissolved and disappear. The analysis shows that besides stress and strain, the temperature is another important driving force for the precipitation of σ-phase. And it is also proved that the slow dissolution and diffusion process of σ-phase can be effectively controlled by high temperature annealing when the molybdenum-rhenium foil is processed to a thinner size, that is, the internal energy storage is high enough.
4) Most of σ-phase particles in the molybdenum-rhenium foil presents an irregular polygonal morphology, and small part of them is spherical. After annealing at a higher temperature of 1500 °C and above, some σ particles exhibit a cube shape.
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