Similarities and differences in the microstructure of attritor-milled Fe{endash}Al{endash}N compositions
- U.S. Department of Energy, Albany Research Center, Albany, Oregon 97321 (United States)
- Physics Department, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia 23529 (United States)
Although numerous studies of high-energy, ball-milled metal powders have been conducted, to date few studies have characterized the mechanical processing of identical elemental compositions of prealloyed powders and of powder blends. This study reports on the mechanical processing (attritor ball milling) in argon and nitrogen gas environments of (a) iron powder and prealloyed iron{endash}2 wt.{percent} aluminum powder, and (b) iron-aluminum, iron-aluminum nitride, and iron-iron nitride powder blends. When nitrogen was milled into iron particles either from nitride powder or by gas infusion, the nitrogen dissolved interstitially in bcc-Fe (principally at the grain boundaries) or was present as bct-Fe nanoparticles at the bcc-Fe nanograin boundaries. The resulting nitrogen distribution was independent of how the nitrogen was added. Milled blends of iron and aluminum powder and prealloyed iron-aluminium powder resulted in similar microstructures: micrometer size particles with similar nanograin size. The aluminum in the blended powder mixture developed an ultrafine distribution on the grain boundaries, but it did not become uniformly distributed within the bcc-Fe grains. In contrast, the aluminum in prealloyed Fe{endash}Al powder remained in solid solution during mechanical milling. {copyright} {ital 1997 Materials Research Society.}
- OSTI ID:
- 544547
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Materials Research, Journal Name: Journal of Materials Research Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 12; ISSN JMREEE; ISSN 0884-2914
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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