Thermodynamic Modeling of Ni-C, Co-C, and Ni-Co-C Liquid Alloys Using the Modified Quasichemical Model

The strong interactions between the metallic elements and C in liquid Ni, Co, and Ni-Co alloys have been thermodynamically analyzed. The liquid solution properties in Ni-C and Co-C systems showed significant asymmetry because of the short-range ordering of C exhibited in the liquid solution. Using the modified quasichemical model in the pair approximation, the Ni-C and Co-C systems were re-optimized to simultaneously reproduce the present experimental results of the C solubility and the reported thermodynamic properties in the liquid phases. In particular, the partial enthalpy data of C in liquid Ni and Co alloys were considered for the first time on the thermodynamic assessment of Ni-C and Co-C liquid solutions. The asymmetric interpolation method was introduced to evaluate the Gibbs free energy in the ternary system based on the binary Gibbs free energies in the Ni-C and Co-C systems. The C solubility data measured in the ternary Ni-Co-C alloy melt over a wide Co concentration range were successfully reproduced without any additional ternary model parameter by considering the short-range ordering of C.