Promoting nanoprecipitates via prefabricated defects to pin dislocations and grain boundaries for trading off high-strength and low-thermal-expansion of invar alloys

Invar alloys that combine high strength with a low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) are urgently required for industrial applications. Based on the lower coarsening rate during aging and the CTE values of carbonitrides, a novel strategy is proposed to prepare carbonitrides by reducing carbon and increasing nitrogen to design high-strength and low-thermal-expansion invar alloys. The V(C, N) nanoprecipitate was introduced into the invar alloy, and its effects on the microstructure, thermal expansion behavior, and mechanical properties were investigated. The direct-aged alloy exhibited an enhanced tensile strength of 525 MPa and a ductility of 47.6%. The cold-deformation aging alloy achieved an enhanced tensile strength of 815 MPa while retaining 7.4% ductility and a low CTE value of 1.23×10-6 /°C. The V(C, N) nanoprecipitates effectively immobilized dislocations and grain boundaries, leading to a high dislocation density and small grain size in the alloy. The contributions of each strengthening mechanism were calculated, and the precipitation and dislocation strengthening were found to be the main mechanisms of strength enhancement. These results provide a novel approach for preparing high-strength and low-CTE invar alloys.