The CALPHAD method is used for the thermodynamic modeling of metastable phase transformations in the Fe-Mo system. The relative thermodynamic stability of metastable α and β Mn-like phases and stable phases of the system are assessed. The Gibbs energy of intermetallic compounds with a homogeneity range is described within the Compound Energy Formalism. The calculated versions of Fe-Mo metastable phase diagrams interpret correctly the phase relationships in high-speed solidification of 63Fe37Mo alloy.
Keywords thermodynamic modeling, Fe-Mo system, metastable phase diagrams, Mn-like phasesInformation on phase equilibria in the Fe-Mo system is important for understanding the behavior of materials even when thermodynamic equilibrium is not reached since it shows the direction in which alloys undergo phase transformations. During some processes, materials can be produced in conditions far from equilibrium. An example of such processes is rapid melt quenching. In this case, the equilibrium phase diagram can hardly be used and the analysis may be based on the thermodynamic assessment of the system in general taking into account the kinetics of the processes [1,2]. Under this combination of thermodynamic and kinetic approaches, one of the ways is to calculate metastable phase diagrams, one or several phases being excluded from consideration. It is assumed that the formation of phases under these conditions (for example, in rapid quenching) is impossible or difficult due to kinetic features of the process.In the first part of this study [3], the metastable π-phase with β-Mn structure was identified in meltspinning 63Fe37Mo alloys. Besides this phase, μ-and σ-phases, bcc solid solutions rich in iron (α 1 ) and molybdenum (α 3 ), and metastable intermediate bcc phase (α 2 ) were revealed on both the contact and free surfaces of the melt-spinning ribbons. The formation of the χ-phase (α-Mn type) and high-temperature (R) and lowtemperature (λ) phases in melt-spinning 63Fe37Mo ribbons was suppressed during our experiment. In addition, the homogeneity range of the σ-phase was substantially extended toward the iron-rich composition range, which was testified by the noticeable decrease in its lattice parameters.The presence of the μ-, σ-, and bcc phases in melt-spinning 63Fe37Mo ribbons agrees with the Fe-Mo phase diagram (Fig. 1a, b). The formation of the metastable π-phase, which is absent in the phase diagram, during