Development of microstructural and magnetic properties of Co50Si50 alloy powders during mechanical alloying approach

It is very much essential to produce high-purity metals and alloys using efficient technology for industrial applications. Keeping the above in mind, cobalt monosilicide (CoSi) intermetallic alloy powder preparation using mechanical alloying approach with its microstructural and magnetic properties was studied in detail. Therefore, CoSi intermetallic alloys, thermoelectric, and soft magnetic material powders were prepared using the above approach. The mechanical alloying approaches were accomplished at a speed of 400 rpm under inert atmosphere to prevent oxidation. The structural and morphological properties were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX) instruments. The results revealed that the starting elemental ingredients powder mixtures were fully transformed into CoSi intermetallic alloy after 96-h of milling duration. The magnetic properties, like the saturation magnetization (Ms) and coercivity (Hc) of the various mixed powdered samples during the milling duration were calculated from the hysteresis loops, which were determined using the vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) instrument. The Ms and the Hc values were 7.18 emu/g and 36.25 Oe, respectively while milling the powder mixtures for 96 h, which indicates the CoSi intermetallic alloy.