Thermal stability study of some Fe-Ni-P-Si alloy powders

In the present work, three metal-metalloid alloy compositions (Fe₄₀Ni₄₀Pi_20-xSi_x with x= 6, 10 and 14) were obtained by mechanical alloying. Investigations of the amorphization progress, the microstructure, the thermal stability and properties of the materials so prepared were performed using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersion X-ray microanalysis and differential scanning calorimetry techniques. After 32 h milling the product powders consists in mixtures of disordered amorphous-like and crystalline phases. The higher the Si content is, the higher the thermal stability of the amorphous phase is. To obtain a quasi-complete amorphization, it is necessary to continue the milling process until 100 h.