Process for producing heat-resistant intermetallic compound Ni3Al foil having room-temperature ductility and heat-resistant intermetallic compound Ni3Al foil having room-temperature ductility

Abstract

A process for producing a heat-resistant intermetallic compound Ni 3 Al foil having a room-temperature ductility, which comprises a first step of arc-melting an alloy having a chemical composition containing Ni as a main component and Al to form a starting rod, a second step of growing the starting rod in columnar crystal form by unidirectional solidification, a third step of cutting out the unidirectionally solidified rod to form a plate, and a fourth step of cold-rolling the plate cut at room temperature to form a foil. The invention can provide a process for producing a thin Ni 3 Al foil which has a thickness of 200 microns or less and which is excellent in high-temperature strength, oxidation and corrosion resistances and room-temperature ductility.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A process for producing a heat-resistant intermetallic compound Ni 3 Al foil having a room-temperature ductility, which comprises a first step of arc-melting an alloy having a chemical composition containing Ni as a main component and Al to form a starting rod, a second step of growing the starting rod in columnar crystal form by unidirectional solidification to form a unidirectionally solidified rod, a third step of cutting out the unidirectionally solidified rod to form a plate, and a fourth step of cold-rolling the plate at room temperature to form a foil.  
     
     
         2 . The process for producing the heat-resistant intermetallic compound Ni 3 Al foil having the room-temperature ductility as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the alloy in the first step contains Al in an amount of at least 12.8% by weight and at most 13.6% by weight and has an L1 2 -type ordered structure.  
     
     
         3 . The process for producing the heat-resistant intermetallic compound Ni 3 Al foil having the room-temperature ductility as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the alloy in the first step contains a third element other than Al and has an L1 2 -type ordered structure.  
     
     
         4 . The process for producing the heat-resistant intermetallic compound Ni 3 Al foil having the room-temperature ductility as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  3 , wherein in the first step, a rod having a diameter of 50 mm or less is formed as the starting rod.  
     
     
         5 . The process for producing the heat-resistant intermetallic compound Ni 3 Al foil having the room-temperature ductility as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  4 , wherein the rate of unidirectional solidification in the second step is 25 mm/h or less.  
     
     
         6 . The process for producing the heat-resistant intermetallic compound Ni 3 Al foil having the room-temperature ductility as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  5 , wherein in the third step, the thickness of the plate is 5 mm or less.  
     
     
         7 . The process for producing the heat-resistant intermetallic compound Ni 3 Al foil having the room-temperature ductility as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  6 , wherein in the cold-rolling of the plate in the fourth step, annealing is conducted at a temperature of 800° C. (or 1,073 K) or more for 20 minutes or more.  
     
     
         8 . The process for producing the heat-resistant intermetallic compound Ni 3 Al foil having the room-temperature ductility as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  7 , wherein after the fourth step, the work-hardened, cold-rolled foil is annealed with a degree of vacuum of higher than 10 −3  Pa at a temperature of 800° C. (or 1,073 K) or more for 20 minutes or more, and further cold-rolled to form a foil.  
     
     
         9 . A heat-resistant intermetallic compound Ni 3 Al foil having a room-temperature ductility which foil has a chemical composition containing Ni as a main component and Al in an amount of at least 12.8% by weight and at most 13.6% by weight, and has a thickness of 200 microns or less.