Fabrication and characterization of iron (Fe) nanoparticles by Hall-Williamson, ball milling and X-ray diffraction method

Abstract

Iron (Fe) powder was ball milled in an argon inert atmosphere. The milled powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction. The high-energy ball milling of Fe after 20 h resulted in particle size of 38.44 nm. Lattice strains in Fe powder produced by milling have been analyzed by X-ray powder diffraction. The lattice strain (ε) and Debye-Waller factor (B) are determined from the half-widths and integrated intensities of the Bragg reflections. Debye-Waller factor is found to increase with the lattice strain. From the correlation between the strain and effective Debye-Waller factors have been estimated for iron. The variation of energy of vacancy formation as a function of lattice strain has been studied. In the present study, the Hall-Williamson (HW) and Ball Milling (BM) method was used. Mechanical properties, i.e., Lattice Strain (LS) and Particle Size(PS) of Fe nanopowders have been systematically studied. SEM values of particle size 175 nm for zero hour and 45 nm for 20 h. The SEM values agree well with estimated values 168.46 nm for zero and 38.4 nm for 20 h by Hall-Williumson method.