Structure of liquid Fe-Al alloys

The atomic structure of liquid Fe-Al alloys within the whole concentration range (including pure components) has been studied at 1820 K by X-ray diffraction technique. Experimental data were compared with micro-heterogeneous model calculations. Reported physical properties of liquid Fe-Al alloys have been also considered. It is shown that all investigated melts of the Fe-Al system are micro-inhomogeneous and contain atomic micro-formations (clusters), which are distinguished by composition and atomic packing. There are four types of cluster, two of them contain atoms of one sort (Fe or Al); composition of two other types of cluster respects to the stoichiometry of solid Fe2Al5 and Fe3Al phases. The variation of the component concentrations in Fe-Al alloys results in changing of volume fraction of each cluster type whereas the atomic composition and arrangement inside the clusters remains constant. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.