Nanocrystalline FeAl intermetallic produced by mechanical alloying followed by hot-pressing consolidation

In the present study mechanical alloying followed by hot-pressing consolidation has been used to obtain bulk nanocrystalline FeAl intermetallic compound. Nanocrystalline powder of Fe(Al) solid solution was the product of ball milling. This powder was sintered at 1000 °C for 180 s under a pressure of 7.7 GPa. Structural investigations of the consolidated material revealed that ordering of the Fe(Al) and its transformation into FeAl intermetallic occur during sintering and that the mean crystallite size of FeAl is 23 nm. The microhardness of the produced material is 1235 HV0.2, its density is 99.8% of theoretical value and its open porosity is 0%. The results obtained show that the quality of compaction with preserving nanometric grain size of the FeAl intermetallic is satisfactory and its microhardness is relatively high.