Hardening of V–Si alloys during high energy ball milling

Abstract

Vanadium–silicon alloys were produced by a powder metallurgical processing route. To this end, mechanical alloying of V–Si alloys with varied Si concentrations was carried out in a planetary ball mill. Si is an effective strengthening element for V alloys due to the solid solution strengthening effect and the formation of vanadium silicides at higher Si concentrations. The influence of the Si concentration, ranging between 2 and 25at.%, on the properties of the mechanically alloyed materials was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and microhardness measurements.