Nature of the temperature dependence of plasticity in the polycrystalline intermetallic compound Ni3Al

The effect of temperature on the plasticity, the type of failure, and the fractions of brittle intercrystallite and viscous transcrystallite failure of the intermetallic compound Ni-24 at. % Al have been studied with boron and without boron. A method is proposed for determining the cohesive strength of the grain boundaries by using the parameters of the flow curve and taking account of the local plastic deformation at the tip of the crack. It is shown that the cohesive strength of the grain boundaries is quite high in Ni₃Al and it is not the cause of the low-temperature embrittlement. The temperature dependence of the plasticity in the Ni-25 at. % Al alloy with boron and without boron in the region of the anomalous temperature dependence of the flow limit is determined by the change in the deformational hardening coefficient and at higher temperatures by a lowering of the cohesive strength of the grain boundaries.V. D. Kuznetsov Siberian Physicotechnical Institute, Tomsk University. Institute for Strength and Materials Science, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 11, pp. 80–89, November, 1994.