Micro-analytical studies of discontinuous precipitation in Fe-13.5 at.% Zn alloy

Abstract For the first time, the analytical electron microscopy has been used to determine the solute concentration profiles left behind the moving reaction front (RF) of the discontinuous precipitation (DP) reaction in a Fe-13.5 at.% Zn alloy. These profiles have been converted into grain boundary diffusivity (sδD b ) values, using Cahn’s diffusion equation in its original form and the data of the growth rate of the discontinuous precipitates obtained from independent measurements. This approach has essentially removed existing difference in comparison to sδD b values obtained from Cahn′s simplified and Petermann–Hornbogen models relevant for the global approach to the DP. Simultaneously, the local values of sδD b have been up to 8–10 orders of magnitude higher than the data for volume diffusion coefficients and much greater than for diffusion at the stationary grain boundaries of Zn in pure Fe. This is clear indication that the rate controlling factor for DP reaction in the Fe-13 at.% Zn alloy is diffusion at the moving RF.