Liquid Phase Separation in Cu-Co-Fe and Cu-Fe-Ni-Cr Alloys

Abstract

The impact of cooling rate on the microstructure of Cu-Co-Fe and Cu-Fe-Ni-Cr alloys was investigated by using scanning electron microscopy. The relatively high cooling rates during arc melting and electron beam surface melting of the alloys result in bulk supercooling, which in turn causes three microstructural effects: 1) Melt separation into two liquids, copper poor-Ll and copper rich-L2, 2) microstructural refinement, and 3) enhanced solute trapping of Cu in the -Fe phase.