Available online at SciVerse ScienceDirect

J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2013, 29(5), 480e488

Microstructural Evolution and Mechanical Properties of Inconel 625 Alloy

during Pulsed Plasma Arc Deposition Process
Fujia Xu1,2), Yaohui Lv2), Yuxin Liu2), Fengyuan Shu1,2), Peng He1)*, Binshi Xu1,2)
1) State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding and Joining, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
2) National Key Laboratory for Remanufacturing, Academy of Armored Forces Engineering, Beijing 100072, China
[Manuscript received March 24, 2012, in revised form October 22, 2012, Available online 15 February 2013]

Pulsed plasma arc deposition (PPAD), which combines pulsed plasma cladding with rapid prototyping, is a
promising technology for manufacturing near net shape components due to its superiority in cost and
convenience of processing. In the present research, PPAD was successfully used to fabricate the Ni-based
superalloy Inconel 625 components. The microstructures and mechanical properties of deposits were
investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), optical microscopy (OM), transmission electron
microscopy (TEM) with energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), microhardness and tensile testers. It was found
that the as-deposited structure exhibited homogenous columnar dendrite structure, which grew epitaxially
along the deposition direction. Moreover, some intermetallic phases such as Laves phase, minor MC (NbC,
TiC) carbides and needle-like d-Ni3Nb were observed in g-Ni matrix. Precipitation mechanism and distribution
characteristics of these intermetallic phases in the as-deposited 625 alloy sample were analyzed. In order to
evaluate the mechanical properties of the deposits, microhardness was measured at various location
(including transverse plane and longitudinal plane). The results revealed hardness was in the range of 260e
285 HV0.2. In particular, microhardness at the interface region between two adjacent deposited layers was
slightly higher than that at other regions due to highly refined structure and the disperse distribution of Laves
particles. Finally, the influence of precipitation phases and fabrication strategies on the tensile properties of
the as-deposited samples was investigated. The failure modes of the tensile specimens were analyzed with
fractography.

KEY WORDS: Pulsed plasma arc deposition; Inconel 625 components; Microstructure; Mechanical properties

1. Introduction annealing over a long period at 550e850  C[8]. Moreover,

various carbides including MC, M6C and M23C6 can also pre-
Ni-based superalloy Inconel 625 is widely applied in aero- cipitate during aging upon the time and temperature[9e11].
nautical, aerospace, chemical, petrochemical and marine in- However, many of the Inconel 625 components have highly
dustries. This material has a good combination of yield strength, complex shapes so that they are very expensive to be fabricated
tensile strength, creep strength, excellent process ability, weld- due to extensive machining. Therefore, direct metal deposition
ability and good resistance to high temperature corrosion on (DMD) techniques for Inconel 625 components have received
prolonged exposure to aggressive environments[1e5]. These more and more attentions in recent years. Among these tech-
excellent mechanical properties of Inconel 625 mainly depend niques, the laser rapid manufacturing for Inconel 625 compo-
upon the solid-solution hardening effect of the refractory metals, nents has the most extensive applications. It is an emerging
such as niobium and molybdenum in the nickelechromium computer-aided manufacturing technology that uses a laser
matrix[6,7]. Precipitation hardening in this alloy is mainly derived beam to melt and deposit the filler material to form components,
from the precipitation of fine metastable phase g00 -Ni3Nb after directly from computer-aided design (CAD) model. So far, a
series of manufacturing processes, which are similar to laser
rapid manufacturing (LRM) have been developed with different
* Corresponding author. Prof., Ph.D.; Tel./Fax: þ86 451 86418746;
names at various laboratories, such as laser engineering net
E-mail address: [email protected] (P. He).
1005-0302/$ e see front matter Copyright Ó 2013, The editorial office of shaping (LENS)[12], direct light fabrication (DLF)[13] and laser
Journal of Materials Science & Technology. Published by Elsevier metal forming (LMF)[14]. The merits of these manufacturing
Limited. All rights reserved. processes using laser as the heat source are that the heat-affected
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmst.2013.02.010 zone and residual stresses are reduced and thus a lower part
 F. Xu et al.: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2013, 29(5), 480e488 481

phases and their effects on mechanical properties of as-deposited

625 alloys manufactured by PPAD.
In the present paper, the microstructure and composition
segregation of Inconel 625 samples prepared by PPAD were
explored. The precipitation mechanism and distribution charac-
teristics of intermetallic phases in as-deposited 625 alloys were
studied. The effects of precipitation phases and fabrication
strategies on mechanical properties of deposits were also
investigated.

2. Experimental
Fig. 1 Schematic representation of the PPAD deposited process.
The forming of Inconel 625 components were carried out by
PPAD system, which consists of plasma arc welding source,
distortion and better mechanical properties are achieved. Many welding torch, wire feeding device, integrated with welding
studies have been conducted on the microstructure and me- robot, water-cooled system and computer control system.
chanical properties of Inconel 625 components formed by laser Commercially available, Inconel 625 welding wire (ERNiCrMo-
rapid prototyping. Paul et al.[15] investigated the influence 3) with 1.2 mm in diameter was used as filler metal. The average
of processing parameters during LRM of Inconel 625, and chemical composition of the welding wire was 64.24 Ni, 22.65
explored the mechanical properties of test specimens. Their main Cr, 8.73 Mo, 3.53 Nb, 0.01 C, 0.16 Al and 0.2 Ti (in wt%). Fig. 1
conclusion was that optimization of parameters could improve presents the principle of PPAD technology. In the forming pro-
mechanical properties. Dinda et al.[16] studied the microstructure cess, Inconel 625 welding wire was filled into a molten pool
and properties of Inconel 625 samples fabricated by DMD pro- created by pulsed plasma arc, and rapidly solidified onto the
cess, and evaluated the thermal stability of structure at 800e previous layer. By adding successive layers, three-dimensional
1200  C. The results indicated that as-deposited microstructure components free of cracks and porosity were formed. Two
mostly consisted of columnar dendrites, which were stable up to kinds of Inconel 625 components were deposited on the low
1000  C, and the precipitation of metastable g00 -Ni3Nb resulted carbon steel sheet substrate to investigate the effects of fabrica-
in the increase of microhardness[16]. However, there exist dis- tion strategies on mechanical properties. The scan direction of
advantages such as low deposition rates, huge production de- each layer is opposite to that of previous deposited layer as
vices and high production cost in the laser rapid prototyping for shown in Fig. 2. The processing parameters of PPAD are listed in
Inconel 625 components. Hence, laser rapid prototyping is Table 1. The deposited sample with the dimension of 100 mm
especially suitable for repairing or fabricating high-value parts (length)  40 mm (width)  18 mm (height) carried about 15
with low production volume. deposited layers.
Pulsed plasma arc deposition (PPAD) as a conventional After the Inconel 625 components were fabricated by PPAD,
forming technique has many advantages of high production ef- the microstructures and composition distribution of as-deposited
ficiency, low cost, fine microstructure, excellent mechanical samples fabricated with short raster were examined by using a
properties, and high density. Hence, the process is ideally suited Philips Quant 200 scanning electron microscope equipped with
for high volume manufacturing, particularly for the fabrication energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) apparatus and OLYMPUS
and repair of a variety of medium to large sized highly complex optical microscope. The precipitation phases and their crystal
components. Recently, it has been reported that plasma trans- structures were determined by means of transmission electron
ferred arc-assisted deposition technology can be also used to microcopy (TEM). The samples for scanning electron micro-
directly manufacture a real component[17]. Zhao and Liu[18] scopy (SEM) observation were first mechanically polished to
deposited a GH163 superalloy component by using this tech- mirror finish and then chemically etched in a water solution of
nique, and investigated the effects of solid solution and aging 10% CrO3 for 5e10 s by using 304 L stainless steel sheet as
treatments on the microstructure characteristics of as-deposited electrode. The microhardness of the deposited samples was
samples. However, little work has been done on the precipita- measured by a Vickers microhardness tester (HXZ-1000) using a
tion mechanism and distribution characteristics of intermetallic 1.96 N (200 gf) load for a dwell time of 15 s.

Fig. 2 Diagrammatic sketches of raster patterns including long (a) and short (b) raster.
482 F. Xu et al.: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2013, 29(5), 480e488

Table 1 Processing parameters of pulsed plasma arc deposition deposition direction. During the PPAD process, the heat flow
direction of the solidification of molten pool is about perpen-
Parameters Parameters value
dicular to the surface of substrate or the pre-deposited layers,
Plasma gas flow (L/min) 0.3 leading to the growth of directional columnar dendrites. Fig. 3(c)
Shield gas flow (L/min) 15 highlights the microstructure of the overlapping interface be-
Peak current, IP (A) 230 tween two adjacent deposited tracks or layers. It can be observed
Background current, Ib (A) 150 that a quite fine dendrite structure appears at the interface region.
Duty cycle 50% The dendrites at the two sides of interface exhibit almost the
Welding speed (m/min) 1.3 same crystallographic orientation, which indicates a good con-
Wire feed rate (m/min) 0.18
sistency in crystal growth between different layers. Compared
with the bottom microstructure, the microstructure for the upper
part of the sample exhibits a slightly coarse columnar dendritic
structure with classical secondary dendrite arms as shown in
The effect of raster pattern on tensile strength was investi-
Fig. 3(d). As described previously, the structure morphology of
gated. In the tensile test process, specimens deposited with long
the as-deposited sample varies at different location of sample
raster pattern were tested in such a way that tensile loading axis
depending upon the cooling rate of the melt pool in the PPAD
was parallel to the raster direction; while specimens deposited
process. When bottom material of the sample is deposited, the
with short raster pattern were tested in such a way that tensile
solidification velocity is very fast resulting from the water-cooled
loading axis was perpendicular to the raster direction. Mean-
copper plate, leading to fine primary dendrites without secondary
while, the uniformity of tensile strength for the same sample was
dendrites. However, for the upper part of the sample, the tem-
studied. In addition, the fracture surface morphologies were
perature gradient becomes small, and the cooling rate becomes
observed with a Philips Quant 200 scanning electron
low as a result of the heat accumulation. Therefore, the primary
microscope.
dendrites become slightly coarse, and the secondary dendrite arm
spacing at the upper part of the sample varies between 20 and
3. Results and Discussion
25 mm, as shown in Fig. 3(d).
Fig. 4 demonstrates a typical SEM image of the major phases
3.1. Microstructure characterization appearing in the deposits. It can be observed that some small
dark particles in globular, a large number of irregular shapes and
Fig. 3 presents the as-deposited microstructure in a cross- needle-like phases were precipitated in the interdendritic regions.
section vertical to the plasma arc scanning direction. The stag- TEM observations and EDS X-ray microanalysis were carried
gered individual deposited tracks can be observed from the low out to clarify these precipitated phases in the as-deposited
magnification microscopy, as shown in Fig. 3(a). Fig. 3(b) shows microstructure. Fig. 5(a) shows the precipitation of A2B type
that bottom microstructure of the sample is mostly a fine Laves phase in irregular shape, which has a close-packed hex-
columnar dendritic structure with no secondary dendrites. It can agonal structure. The inset in Fig. 5(a) presents the SAD pattern
be seen that columnar dendrites grow epitaxially along the of Laves phase with a [011] zone axis. Moreover, it can be

Fig. 3 Macrostructure (a) and highly magnified microstructures at bottom (b) and upper part (c, d) of the as-deposited Inconel 625 sample.
 F. Xu et al.: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2013, 29(5), 480e488 483

Laves particles was identified as (Fe þ Cr þ Ni, 64.4% (in at.%))

and (Nb þ Mo þ Ti, 35.6%), which just accords with the A2B (A:
Ni, Cr, Fe; B: Nb, Mo, Ti) form of Laves phase. In general, the
interdendritic Nb-enriched Laves phases, whose morphologies
are related to the dendrites structure, can form an interconnected
network. The inherent brittle nature of the Laves phase leads to
poor tensile ductility, fracture toughness, fatigue and creep
rupture properties in 625 alloy[19]. Fig. 6 presents the bright field
(BF) image of discontinuous and blocky MC carbides existing at
the grain boundary and the corresponding selected area diffrac-
tion (SAD) pattern. The inset in Fig. 6(a) illustrates that the
round-shaped MC particles are identified as NbC by the SAD
pattern with a [411] zone axis. Fig. 6(b) shows the EDS spectrum
from NbC carbide. Fig. 7(a) presents the observed TEM
micrograph and SAD pattern results of MC carbides in the ma-
Fig. 4 SEM image of the major phases appearing in the as-deposited trix. It can be observed that the round-shaped MC particles are
microstructure. NbC, and the tetragonal one is identified as (Nb, Ti)C by the
SAD pattern of (Nb, Ti)C with a [001] zone axis, as shown in the
inset of Fig. 7(a). The EDS spectrum of (Nb, Ti)C is shown in
observed from the bright field image (see Fig. 5(a)) that Laves Fig. 7(b). In addition, the precipitation of needle-like d-Ni3Nb
particles are closely related with blocky MC carbides. Fig. 5(b) phase is confirmed by TEM observations and EDS X-ray
shows a typical TEM/EDS spectrum from the Laves particle in microanalysis. Fig. 8(a) shows the BF images of precipitated
Fig. 5(a). The EDS analysis result reveals that the main hard- phase d-Ni3Nb and its corresponding SAD pattern. It can be seen
ening elements Nb, Mo and Ti are rich in Laves phase, which that the needle-like precipitations have the same growth direc-
have been found to be characteristic of Laves phase in the as- tion, and some MC carbides were segregated among needle-like
deposited Ni-base superalloys. Chemical composition of the phases. The inset of Fig. 8(a) shows the composite SAD pattern

Fig. 5 Bright field (BF) image of precipitated phases and diffraction Fig. 6 Bright field (BF) image of NbC and its corresponding selected
(SAD) pattern of Laves phase (a), and the EDS spectrum from area diffraction (SAD) pattern (a), and the EDS spectrum from
Laves phase (b). NbC (b).
484 F. Xu et al.: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2013, 29(5), 480e488

Fig. 7 Bright field (BF) image of (Nb,Ti)C and its corresponding Fig. 8 Bright field (BF) images of precipitation phase d-Ni3Nb and its
selected area diffraction (SAD) pattern (a), and the EDS spec- corresponding selected area diffraction (SAD) pattern (a), and
trum from (Nb,Ti)C (b). the EDS spectrum from d-Ni3Nb (b).

of d-Ni3Nb with orthorhombic DO2 and g-Ni. The orientation alloys were analyzed. In the PPAD process, solidification in
relationship between d-Ni3Nb and g-Ni is [001] d-Ni3Nb // ½111 Inconel 625 alloy starts with the primary liquid / g reaction,
g-Ni. The EDS analysis results show that the main alloy contents causing the accumulation of Nb, Mo, C and Ti elements in
of d phase are Ni, Cr and Nb, as shown in Fig. 8(b). interdendritic and grain boundaries liquid. Thus Laves phase,
The above observation and analysis can confirm that Laves MC carbides (including NbC and TiC) and d-Ni3Nb can
phase, MC carbides and needle-like d-Ni3Nb phase precipitated be precipitated in these regions. Then the subsequent
in the as-deposited microstructure. The distribution characteris- liquid / (g þ NbC) eutectic reaction consumes most carbon
tics of these intermetallic phases in the as-deposited 625 sample available until another eutectic reaction L / g þ Laves þ d
were investigated. Fig. 9(a) and (b) present the detailed micro- occurs, finishing the solidification process[20]. Laves phase oc-
structure of the bottom part of the sample. It can be seen that cupies most useful alloying elements, especially niobium. The
many fine discrete Laves particles and MC carbides were content of Nb in Laves phase is up to 21 wt%. Laves phase
precipitated in interdendritic region. However, the needle-like d- appearing in as-deposited microstructure consumes most of the
Ni3Nb phase was not observed. Fig. 9(c) and (d) highlight the Nb originally dissolved in the base material, thereby making less
SEM microstructures in the interface region between two adja- Nb available for the precipitation of the principal strengthening
cent layers. It was observed that Laves particles, MC carbides phase g00 -Ni3Nb. The metastable phase g00 -Ni3Nb was not
and a few needle-like d-Ni3Nb were precipitated in the interface detected in this research. However, a large number of needle-like
region. The needle-like d-Ni3Nb precipitates grow along the d-Ni3Nb precipitates existing in the as-deposited microstructure
edges of Laves particles, and the amount of d-Ni3Nb is small. were identified. The result is different from that of other re-
Fig. 9(e) and (f) exhibit the precipitation and distribution of searches on laser deposition and welding process for the Inconel
previous phases at the upper part of the sample. As can be seen, 625 alloy[21]. The formation of d-Ni3Nb phase is due to solidi-
the precipitated phases in columnar dendritic regions are inter- fication conditions and complex thermal cycling of PPAD pro-
connected and net-shaped. The amount of Laves particles be- cess. During the solidification of PPAD, Ni and Nb elements are
comes smaller than those at the bottom part. Moreover, a large rich in the residual liquid after the eutectic reaction
number of d-Ni3Nb precipitates are precipitated in the form of L / g þ Laves, which is beneficial to the nucleation and
more vimineous morphologies with two direction of growth. growth of d-Ni3Nb. Meanwhile, material is built up layer by
According to the previous observation, the precipitation layer during PPAD process. When depositing a new layer of
mechanisms of the major phases appearing in as-deposited 625 material, the deposits of the previous layer are heat-treated
 F. Xu et al.: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2013, 29(5), 480e488 485

Fig. 9 SEM microstructures at bottom (a, b), layers interface (c, d) and upper part (e, f) of the as-deposited Inconel 625 sample.

resulting in the dissolution of Laves phases. Then the released properties of Inconel 718 by GTAW (gas tungsten arc weld-
niobium elements can be used for the formation of d-Ni3Nb. It ing)[22]. In addition, when depositing a layer of material, the
can be confirmed by the small amount of Laves particles in the dendrites of the top portion always grow preferably inclining
as-deposited microstructure of upper part, as shown in Fig. 9(e). toward the scanning direction because of the temperature
In addition, the low cooling rate makes for the precipitation of d- gradient direction changing from the deposition direction at the
Ni3Nb in this research. As can be seen, many fine discrete Laves bottom of molten pool to the scanning direction at the top of the
particles precipitated at the bottom part of the as-deposited molten pool. However, the orientation transition of dendrites
sample without d-Ni3Nb (see Fig. 9(a)), which is caused by growth was not observed, resulting from top portion remelting
high cooling rate. The marked segregation of solute elements is during the subsequent layer deposition. Therefore, dendrite
prevented because of the insufficient time for solute redistribu- growth directions within two adjacent layers were the same. For
tion. Hence, finer Laves particles and a lower Nb concentration the solidification process of the layer interface, the temperature
in the interdendritic region are obtained. When depositing the gradient is very high but the cooling rate is very low. As a result,
upper part layers, the cooling rate becomes low, resulting from layer interface consisting of fine cellular structure and pre-
heat accumulation. Therefore more solute elements are rich in cipitates can be observed. These layer interface regions are
the interdendritic area, resulting in the precipitation of a large usually associated with sharp changes in grain size and degree of
number of d-Ni3Nb. The presence of needle-like d-phase in microsegregations. Therefore, they can be the weak sites of
excessive amounts was found to be detrimental for stress rupture tensile stress[23].
486 F. Xu et al.: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2013, 29(5), 480e488

3.2. Mechanical properties

Microhardness measurements were carried out on the trans-

verse and longitudinal cross-sections of the as-deposited Inconel
625 sample. Fig. 10 presents the microhardness variation profiles
from bottom to upper part of the as-deposited sample. The results
reveal microhardness on the transverse cross-section in the range
of 260e285 HV0.2 with an obvious fluctuation. The micro-
hardness of the bottom sample is higher than that of the upper
sample because of the finer columnar dendrites and discrete
precipitates. The longitudinal cross-section exhibits slightly
lower microhardness in the range of 260e275 HV0.2 with a
small fluctuation. Microhardness at the interface region between
the adjacent deposited layers is slightly higher than that of other
regions due to a highly refined structure.
Fig. 11 shows the tensile properties of the specimens depos-
ited by PPAD with different fabrication strategies. Tensile test
specimens were machined from the bottom to the upper part of
the as-deposited sample. Fig. 11(a) indicates that the tensile
strength (in the range of 690e754 MPa) of the specimens with
short raster fabrication strategy is slightly higher than that with
long raster (in the range of 704e742 MPa). The tensile strength
decreases gradually from the bottom to the upper part of the as-
deposited sample. Fig. 11(b) shows yield strength of Inconel 625
alloy fabricated with different raster patterns. The variation of the
yield strength is similar to that of the tensile strength. Fig. 11(c)
presents the test results on the elongation rate of the Inconel 625
alloy fabricated with different raster patterns. The results reveal
that the percentage elongations of all specimens keep almost
constant (49%). This illustrates that the as-deposited sample
exhibits improved tensile properties without sacrificing elonga-
tion. The average tensile properties of the as-deposited sample
with short raster (long raster) are found to be tensile strength
721 MPa (718 MPa), yield strength 438 MPa (423 MPa) and
percentage elongation 48.6% (49.2%). The tensile properties of
the specimens fabricated by using PPAD are compared with the
results of parts additive manufactured by other technologies, as
listed in Table 2. The tensile properties of the specimens fabri-
cated by using PPAD are better than those as reported for the as-
cast material. Compared with specimens from additive manu-
factured by LRM technology, their tensile and yield strength are
inferior, but the percentage elongation is close or superior.
During the tensile test process, the tensile loading axis is
perpendicular to the raster direction for the short raster Fig. 11 Tensile strength (a), yield strength (b) and percentage elonga-
tion (c) of Inconel 625 alloy fabricated with different raster
patterns.

specimens. Thus microstructure of the interface between adja-

cent layers and overlapping region between weld beads has a
significant impact on the tensile properties. The above results
imply that the sample is well fabricated and free of micro-
defects. Moreover, the fine dendrites and precipitates in the

Table 2 Comparison of tensile properties of differently processed

Inconel 625

Conditions Tensile properties

Tensile strength Elongation Yield strength

(MPa) (%) (MPa)

LRM-reported[23] 744e797 31e48 485

Cast[1] 710 48 350
Fig. 10 Microhardness profiles from bottom to upper on transverse and PPAD 721 49 438
longitudinal cross-sections.
 F. Xu et al.: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2013, 29(5), 480e488 487

Fig. 12 Fracture surface of tested specimens from the bottom (a) and upper part (b) of sample with short raster pattern.

interface and overlapping region are good for the tensile sample with short raster processing strategy. The fracture sur-
strength. In addition, it can be seen that tensile properties in the face exhibited a fine dimpled surface, indicating a dimpled
whole sample are non-uniform. The tensile strength decreases ductile mode of failure associated with good tensile properties.
gradually because of the microstructure evolution from the bot- The existence of a few fine Laves particles and MC carbides
tom to the upper part of the as-deposited sample. The results are inside the dimples indicates that microvoids were initiated at the
explained by means of morphologies and distribution of the Laves/matrix interfaces. It is evident from these observations that
precipitates. At the bottom part of the as-deposited sample, the the Laves particles are primarily responsible for the fracture
finer Laves phase and MC carbides are discretely distributed in process by providing favorable sites for excessive microvoid
the interdendritic area and grain boundary, which is beneficial to initiation and growth of macroscopic cracks. In addition, the
the mechanical properties of as-deposited Inconel 625 alloy by amount and morphology of Laves phase significantly influence
PPAD. However, for the upper part of the as-deposited sample, the fracture process. The fine and discrete particle morphology of
the morphologies of the precipitates are interconnected, which Laves phase at the bottom part is less harmful to tensile ductility
are adverse for the mechanical properties. compared with the higher amount and coarse interconnected
Fig. 12 presents the fracture surface morphologies of the particle morphology of Laves phase. Thus it is not surprising that
tested specimens. The EDS analysis results of the phases on the the specimen at the bottom part exhibits good tensile properties.
fracture surface are listed in Table 3. Fig. 12(a) shows the frac- By contrast, the fractograph of specimen at the upper part
tograph of specimen from the bottom part of the as-deposited showed distinct dendritic morphology on the fracture surface
with coarser dimples, confirming a transgranular ductile mode of
Table 3 EDS results of the phases in the dimples (at.%)
failure, as shown in Fig. 12(b). Meanwhile, it was observed that
a large number of Laves, a few needle-like d phases and MC
Phases Ni Cr Mo Nb Ti particles appeared inside the dimples. This suggests the failure
took place at the interdendritic regions. Otherwise, a few needle-
Laves 46.5 17.6 11.4 21.3 3.2
like d phases might have a negative effect on ductility of spec-
MC 20.8 11.3 4.2 40.6 23.1
d phase 48.8 20.7 10.4 16.5 3.6
imen, offsetting the positive effects of Laves particles to some
extent. Fig. 13(a) and (b) show the fractographs of specimen

Fig. 13 Fracture surface of tested specimens from the bottom (a) and upper part (b) of sample with long raster pattern.
488 F. Xu et al.: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2013, 29(5), 480e488

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The paper was financially supported by the National Basic 2421.
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and the National Science and Technology Supporting Project (2005) 1497e1500.
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