Monocarbide Characterization In Nickel-Base Mc Aligned Eutectics

In the aligned Ni-MC eutectic alloys being developed for jet engine blade applications, the fibers are considered to be Tac, Tic, etc. In fact, these fibers will contain Cr, Mo, W and possibly other elements as substitutions for the “M” constituent, and often will not be stoichiometric. Quantitative chemical analysis of fibers is difficult because of their size. However, lattice parameter measurements can be used to learn much a out the carbide chemistry and stoichiometry. Results will be described in detail for fibers extracted from simple Ni-TaC, Ni,Cr-TaC and Ni,Cr,AI-Tac systems. In addition, experiments on mixed (Ta,V)C and (Ta,Ti)C carbides will be discussed. Carbide lattice parameters can be understood in terms of the free energies of formation of the various carbides.