Effect of solution treatment temperature on the microstructure of Fe-40Ni-24Cr alloy

Abstract

The research study describes the effect of solution treatment temperature on the microstructure of Fe-40Ni-24Cr alloy. The working process is divided into three (3) working phases which are solution treatment process, sample preparation and sample analysis. The samples undergo the solution treatment at three different temperature, such that 1000 °C, 1100 °C and 1200 °C. At each of the solution treatment temperatures, the Fe-40Ni-24Cr alloy samples experience different soaking times which are 1 hour, 2 hours and 3 hours followed by water quenched. The analysis of the samples involves the microstructure observation using optical microscope (OM), phase analysis using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Vickers hardness testing. The result shows that the microstructure of all solution treated samples consists of austenitic matrix phase. On the other hand, the alloy grain size was increase as the solution treatment temperature and soaking time increased. Whereas, for hardness testing, increasing in solution treatment temperature and soaking time were decrease the hardness values.