Structure of liquid Fe–Al alloys

The atomic structure of liquid Fe–Al alloys within the whole concentration range (including pure components) has been studied at 1820 K by X-ray diffraction technique. Experimental data were compared with micro-heterogeneous model calculations. Reported physical properties of liquid Fe–Al alloys have been also considered. It is shown that all investigated melts of the Fe–Al system are micro-inhomogeneous and contain atomic micro-formations (clusters), which are distinguished by composition and atomic packing. There are four types of cluster, two of them contain atoms of one sort (Fe or Al); composition of two other types of cluster respects to the stoichiometry of solid Fe2Al5 and Fe3Al phases. The variation of the component concentrations in Fe–Al alloys results in changing of volume fraction of each cluster type whereas the atomic composition and arrangement inside the clusters remains constant.