Technological Aspects of Fe-Al-Si Intermetallic Alloy Preparation by Mechanical Alloying

Abstract

In this paper, recently developed ternary FeAl20Si20 (wt.%) alloy with promising high-temperature oxidation and wear resistance was prepared by mechanical alloying in a high-energy ball mill. The possibility to speed-up the mechanical alloying process by replacing aluminium (and partly silicon) elemental powder by the pre-alloyed powder (AlSi30) with relatively fine dispersion of Si in the Al-Si eutectic was examined. The microstructure, phase composition and mechanical properties after various time of mechanical alloying were characterized. The effect of using the pre-alloyed powders on kinetics of mechanical alloying is compared with the results obtained on batches prepared from elemental powders.