Characterization of dispersoids in Fe-13Cr-3.5Al-2.0Mo-0.5 wt% ZrC alloy

Fe-13Cr-3.5Al-2.0Mo-0.5 wt% ZrC alloy was prepared by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) technology. The microstructure of the alloy was characterized by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Atom Probe Tomography (APT). TEM results show that the grain size is about 200 nm. The size of ZrC that is incoherent with the matrix is 45 ± 8.1 nm, the number density is 0.1 × 1021 m−3, and ZrC can pin the grain boundary. The size of Al2O3 is 15.8 ± 2.0 nm, and the number density is 1.2 × 1021 m−3, which can generate a coherent interface with the matrix and is dispersed at the grain boundary and inside the grain. APT results show that there is another type of dispersoid with smaller size, which is a binary composite dispersoid -(Zr, Mo) (C, N) / Al2O3, with the size of 7.6 ± 2.2 nm and the number density of 9.6 × 1021 m−3. •The dispersoids in Fe-13Cr-3.5Al-2.0Mo-0.5 wt.% ZrC alloy was characterized by TEM and APT.•ZrC, Al2O3 and binary composite dispersoids (Zr, Mo) (C, N)/Al2O3 are the main dispersoids in the material.•The formation of (Zr, Mo) (C, N)/Al2O3 was analyzed by the theory of Gibbs free energy of formation.•The influence of composition on the size and quantity density of dispersoids was analyzed