PREPARATION OF IRON-NICKEL BASED METAL-METALLOID AMORPHOUS POWDERS BY MECHANICAL ALLOYING

Powders of crystalline, elemental iron and nickel metals and metal-metalloid systems such as FeB, FeP, and FeSi alloys were mechanically alloyed to obtain the alloys of compositions Fe40Ni40 P14B6 and Fe39Ni39Si10B12 (at. pct) by high energy ball milling. X-ray diffraction traces of both the powders of Fe4)Ni40P14B6 and Fe39Ni39Si10B12 synthesized by mechanical alloying for 700 ks or so showed halo-patterns typical of amorphous materials. The crystallization enthalpy of the former powder thus produced, measured by differential scanning calorimetry, was also almost the same as those of the liquid-quenched sample of the same composition. This suggests that amorphization in metal-metalloid systems, i.e. ductile-brittle systems, like Fe40Ni40P14B6 is fully achieved by ball milling alone using high milling energy and metalloid elements as their alloys with metals. © 1990.