B2-ordered iron aluminide intermetallic alloys exhibit a combination of attractive properties such as low density and good corrosion resistance. However, the practical applications of these alloys are limited by their poor fracture toughness and low room temperature ductility. One current strategy for overcoming these undesirable properties is to attempt to modify the basic chemistry of the materials with alloying additions. These changes in the chemistry of the material cannot be fully understood without a knowledge of the site-distribution of the alloying elements. In this paper, the site-distributions of a series of 3d-transition metal alloying additions in B2-ordered iron aluminides are studied with ALCHEMI.A series of seven alloys of stoichiometry Fe50AL45Me5, with Me = {Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu}, were prepared with identical heating cycles. Microalloying additions of 0.2% B and 0.1% Zr were also incorporated to strengthen the grain boundaries, but these alloying additions have little influence on the matrix chemistry and are incidental to this study.
Chemically complex intermetallic alloys: A new frontier for innovative structural materials
