Observation and Mearsurement of Concentration Moments in Rapid Coarsening, Self-Stressed, Au-Ni Thin Plates

Extract

The focus of our study is to demonstrate experimentally how elastic stress effects diffusion behavior and coarsening kinetics in a two-phase binary alloy. This work, based on the theory of Cahn and Kobayashi, focuses on elastic stresses in a thin plate. For the case of phase separation with lattice misfit between solute-rich and solute-poor phases, the diffusion of solute distorts the host lattice and causes elastic stress in the matrix. If the plate is sufficiently thin, the stress can cause the plate to buckle. The buckling stress biases the direction of diffusion, which increases the bending stress even further. Thus, the diffusion and the buckling stress are coupled; each affects the other. The interplay between the two is easiest to observe in a solution in which the solute and solvent have high misfit.