Abstract A precipitation study was carried out during the isothermal aging at 850 °C for Fe-10at.%Ni-15at.%Al, Fe-10at.%Ni-15at.%Al-2.5at.%Cu and Fe-10at.%Ni-15at.%Al-5at.%Cu alloys. The experimental, Calphad, and Kinetic/Precipitation calculated results indicated that the Cu-addition to the ternary alloy promoted a higher volume fraction of β´precipitates, which caused a better aging response for the Cu-containing alloys. The coarsening resistance was the highest for the 2.5 at. % Cu-containing alloy, compared to the ternary alloy because of its lower interfacial free energy, 0.009 Jm-2, between the precipitate and the matrix. The Cu alloying element was located mainly in the β´ precipitate according to its expected thermodynamic behavior, and it caused an atomic relation of Ni to Al close to that of NiAl intermetallic compound for the β´phase. A content of 5 at. % Cu in the ternary alloy promoted higher interfacial energy, 0.04 Jm-2, and thus the fastest coarsening process.

The analysis of phase decomposition was carried out using the nonlinear and linear Cahn-Hilliard equations in a hypothetical A-B alloy system with a miscibility gap. These equations were solved by the explicit finite difference method assuming a regular solution model. The supersaturated solid solution and decomposed phases were considered to have an fcc structure. Different aging temperatures and thermodynamic interaction parameters ΩA-B were used to simulate different alloy systems. The numerical simulation results showed that the growth kinetics of phase decomposition in the alloy with 30at.% A was slower than that of 50 at.% A. Additionally, the start time and modulation wavelength of phase decomposition are strongly affected by the thermodynamic interaction parameter ΩA-B value. The numerical simulation results showed that the growth kinetics of phase decomposition with the linear equation is slower than that with the nonlinear one.