Temperature dependence of the short-range order parameter for Fe0.90Cr0.10 and Fe0.88Cr0.12 alloys

The 57Fe Mössbauer spectra for the iron-based solid solutions Fe0.90Cr0.10 and Fe0.88Cr0.12 were measured at different temperatures ranging from 300 K to 900 K. Analysis of the obtained spectra shows that the distribution of impurity atoms in the two first coordination shells of 57Fe nuclei is not random and it cannot be described by the binomial distribution. Quantitatively, the effects were described in terms of the atomic short-range order (SRO) parameters and the pair-wise interaction energy with the help of a quasi-chemical type formulation introduced by Cohen and Fine. The obtained results reveal strong clustering-type correlations in the studied samples (a predominance of Fe-Fe and Cr-Cr bonds). Moreover, the changes in SRO values observed during thermal processing suggest that the distribution of Cr atoms in an α-iron matrix is strongly temperature dependent.