Determination of the Relative Thermodynamic Properties of the Iron-Chromium-Nickel System at Temperatures Near 1600° C
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This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 67-2446 GILBY, Stephen Warner, 1939- DETERMINATION OF THE RELATIVE THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF THE IRON-CHROMIUM-NICKEL SYSTEM AT TEMPERATURES NEAR 1600° C. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1966 Engineering, metallurgy University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan DETERMINATION OF THE RELATIVE THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF THE IRON-CHROMIUM-NICKEL SYSTEM AT TEMPERATURES NEAR l6 0 0 °C , DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio S ta te U n iv e rsity By Stephen Warner Gilby, B.S. The Ohio S ta te U n iv e rsity 1966 Approved by Department of M etallurgical Engineering ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Dr. George R. St.Pierre whose guidance and thoughtful comments aided greatly in the completion of this thesis. The experimental assistance of Dr. Rudolph Speiser is also greatly appreciated. The author would especially like to thank Mr. Richard Reese for his able assistance in collecting and analyzing the mass spectrometer data reported in this thesis. The valuable assistance of Dr. Karl Svank is also acknowledged. The financial support of the American Iron and Steel Institute and the International Nickel Company made this thesis p ossib le. i i CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS i i TABLES iv FIGURES v i INTRODUCTION AND UTERATURE REVIEW 1 EXPERIMENTAL EQUIPMENT 25 THEORETICAL BASIS ia EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE 5o RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 77 APPENDIXES 1UU BIBLIOGRAPHY 171 i i i TABLES Table Page 1. The Relative Isotopic Abundances of the Isotopes of . 29 Chromium, Iron, and Nickel. 2. Typical Analyses of the Iron, Chromium, and Nickel . 51 Used in this Research. 3. Nominal Compositions, Analysis Methods, and Temper- . 5U atures of the Alloys Studied in this Research. U. Experimental Equilibrium Vapor Compositions in the . 78 Iron-Chromium Liquid System at l600°C. 5. A c tiv ities of Iron and Chromium in the Iron-Chromium . 82 Liquid System at l600°C. 6. Experimental Equilibrium Vapor Compositions in the . 87 Nickel-Chromium Liquid System at 1600°C. 7. Activities of Nickel and Chromium in the Nickel- .... 92 Chromium Liquid System. 8. Experimental Equilibrium Vapor Compositions for Iron- . 107 Chromium-Nickel Liquid Alloys at 1600°C, for Alloys with a Constant Chromium Concentration of 5 Atomic Percent. 9. Experimental Equilibrium Vapor Compositions for Iron- . 108 Chromlum-Nickel Liquid Alloys at 1600°C, for Alloys with a Constant Chromium Concentration of 10 Atomic Percent. 10. Experimental Equilibrium Vapor Compositions for Iron- . 109 Chromium-Nickel Liquid Alloys at 1600°C, for Alloys with a Constant Chromium Concentration of 20 Atomic Percent. iv Table Page 11. Experimental Equilibrium Vapor Compositions for Iron-.... 110 Chromium-Nickel Liquid Alloys at 1600°C, for Alloys with a Constant Chromium Concentration of 30 Atomic Percent. 12. Activities of Iron, Chromium, and Nickel in the Iron-... 121 Chromium-Nickel Ternary System for Alloys with a Con stant Chromium Concentration of 5 Atomic Percent. 13. Activities of Iron, Chromium, and Nickel in the Iron-... 122 Chromium-Nickel Ternary System for Alloys with a Con stant Chromium Concentration of 10 Atomic Percent. llu Activities of Iron, Chromium, and Nickel in the Iron-... 123 Chromium-Nickel Ternary System for Alloys with a Con stant Chromium Concentration of 20 Atomic Percent. 15. Activities of Iron, Chromium, and Nickel in the Iron-... 12i| Chromium-Nickel Ternary System for Alloys with a Con stant Chromium Concentration of 30 Atomic Percent. 16. Interaction Parameters in the Iron-Chromium-Nickel ..... 133 Liquid System at 1600°C. 17. Free Energy of Mixing Values at 1600°C for Iron- .............. 136 Chromium-Nickel Alloys with the Four Constant Chromium'Concentrations of 5, 10, 20, and 30 Atomic Percent. v FIGURES Figure Page 1. Iron-Chromium Phase Diagram ........ .................... 8 2. Iron-Nickel Phase Diagram ..........................................................lit 3. Nickel-Chromium-Phase Diagram ................................................. 17 I4. Iron-Chromium -Nickel Phase Diagram at l6 0 0 °C ................ 21 Bendix Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer ............................. 26 6. Knudsen-Cell Furnace Assem bly ................... 31 7. Schematic Diagram of Knudsen-Cell ......................................... 32 8. Metal Vapor Pressure C ell ......................................................... 36 9. Knudsen-Cell Assembly for Vapor Composition Analysis . 37 10. Variation of the Vapor Composition Function with Nl . 8l in the Iron-Chromium Binare at 1600°C. e 11. Hie Activities of Iron and Chromium in the Iron- . 83 Chromium Binary at l600°C. 12. Graph of the Equilibrium Vapor Compositions in the . 89 Nickel-Chromium Binary at 1600°C. 13. Variation of the Vapor Composition Function with N^. 91 for the Nickel-Chromium Binary at 1600°C. Nl lit. The Activities of Chromium and Nickel in the Nickel- . 93 Chromium Binary at l600°C. 19. Second Law Determination of the Heats of Sublimation . 98 and Evaporation From Mass Spectrometer Intensity Data for Iron, Chromium, and Nickel. 16. Topical Graph of the Ionization Intensity Versus the . 105 Electron Energy of the Ionizing Beam for Monatomic Atoms. v i Figure Page 17. Hie Equilibrium Vapor Compositions for Iron-Chromium^- . 112 Nickel Alloys at 1600°C, for Alloys with a Constant Chromium Content of 5 Atomic Percent. 18. The Equilibrium Vapor Compositions for Iron-Chromium- 113 Nickel Alloys at l600°C, for Alloys with a Constant Chromium Content of 10 Atomic Percent. 19. Hie Equilibrium Vapor Corrpositions for Iron-Chromium- . llll Nickel Alloys at 1600°C, for Alloys with a Constant Chromium Content of 20 Atomic Percent. 20. Hie Equilibrium Vapor Compositions for Iron-Chromium- . 115 Nickel Alloys at 1600°C, for Alloys with a Constant Chromium Content of 30 Atomic Percent. 21. Integration Paths from States (1) to (2) in Ternary . 118 Iron-Chromium-Nickel A lloys. 22. Hie Activities of Iron, Chromium, and Nickel in the . 126 Iron-Chromium-Nickel System at 1600°C, for Alloys with a Constant Chromium Content of 5 Atomic Percent. 23. The Activities of Iron, Chromium, and Nickel in the . 127 Iron-Chromium-Nickel System at l600°C, for Alloys with a Constant Chromium Content of 10 Atomic Percent. 2li. Hie Activities of Iron, Chromium, and Nickel in the . 128 Iron-Chromium-Nickel System at 1600°C, for Alloys with a Constant Chromium Content of 20 Atomic Percent. 25. Hie Activities of Iron, Chromium, and Nickel in the . 129 Iron-Chromium-Nickel System at 1600°C, for Alloys with a Constant Chromium Content of 30 Atomic Percent. 26. Graph of Excess Free §nergy of Mixing for Iron-Chromium- 138 Nickel Alloys at 1600 C. 27. Variation of the Vapor Composition Function with N^ at . 163 l600°C, for Alloys with a Constant Chromium Contenxeof 20 Atomic Percent. 28. Variation of the Vapor Composition Function with N^ at . l6h 1600°C, for Alloys with a Constant Chromium C ontentof 20 Atomic Percent. v ii Figure Page 29. Variation of the Vapor Composition Function with . 165 at l600°C, for Alloys with a Constant Chromium r Content of 20 Atomic Percent. 30. Variation of the Vapor Composition Function with n Y . 166 at 1600°C, for Alloys with a Constant Chromium Content of 20 Atomic Percent. 31. Variation of the Vapor Composition Function with NCr • * 167 at 1600OC, for Alloys with a Constant Chromium Content of 20 Atomic Percent. 32. Variation of the Vapor Composition Function with N^. 168 at l600°C, for Alloys with a Constant Chromium Content of 20 Atomic Percent. 33. Variation of the Vapor Composition Function with NY . 169 at 1600°C, for Alloys with a Constant Nickel r Content of 10 Atomic Percent. 3li. Varitation of the Vapor Composition Function with . 170 at l600°C, for Alloys with a Constant Nickel Content0 of 10 Atomic Percent. v i i i INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW The determination of the thermodynamic properties of alloys is an important activity in the fields of metallurgy and chemistry. From the practical point of view, a knowledge of the thermodynamic properties of alloys allows one to adjust processing variables to optimize the refin ing process. The experimental determination of the thermodynamic prop erties of alloys is very important in the development and verification of theoretical models. Also, experimentally determined thermodynamic properties can be used to check the accuracy of equilibrium phase diagrams of alloys and to predict phase boundaries at temperatures in which it is difficult to establish equilibrium conditions. The alloy system studied in this research forms the basic conpo- nents of the industrially important stainless steels and nickel-base alloys. The stainless steels are used primarily in applications re quiring high mechanical strength combined with corrosion resistance and a bright surface finish. The nickel-base alloys are used primarily for their excellent strength at elevated tenperatures and their oxidation resistance. Each of the elements, iron, chromium, and nickel, is in the first series of transition elements in the periodic table and is characterized by the presence of an unfilled 3d electron shell. The elements iron, chromium, and nickel have melting points of 1536°C, 1 1900°C, and lU53°C respectively. For a temperature of 1600°C, the vapor pressure of chromium is approximately four times higher than the vapor pressure of iron, and eight times higher than the vapor pressure of nickel. The principal oxide of chromium, Cr^O^, is thermodynamically the most stable and the oxide of nickel, NiO, is the least stable of the three elements studied in this research. For a temperature of 1600°C and a residual vacuum of 1 x 10"^ ran Hg, only chromium w ill oxidize from reaction with oxygen in the residual vacuum; iron and nickel w ill not. The carbides of chromium are thermodynamically stable at 25°C, but the carbides of iron and nickel are not. However, each element has an appreciable solubility for carbon in the liquid state.