Direct experimental confirmation of the critical behaviour of antiphase domain boundaries at the second order phase transition of Al–Fe binary alloys

The present work reports, for the first time, a direct experimental observation of the critical phenomenon associated with the B2–A2 order–disorder transition of Al–Fe binary alloys. Transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersion spectroscopy are employed to span the morphological changes through the transition line from the ordered B2 phase to the disordered A2 phase. Dark field images of the microstructure around the transition line for samples aged at 973 and 1073K for various times show an interface roughening for the {100} antiphase domain boundaries in body-centered cubic binary alloys having the B2 structure. This observation confirms theory about the instability of the second-order transition in such alloys. This behaviour occurs for compositions with Al-content slightly higher (by ∼4at.% Al) than that of the critical point of the equilibrium order–disorder transition. In addition, roughness-induced wetting transition is also observed for alloys having compositions ranging from 1.3 to 1.5at.% Al above the transition line. The interface roughening transition is thought to be unstable second-order while the wetting transition is suggested to be a stable first-order one.