High strength nanocrystalline L12-Al3(Ti,Zr) intermetallic synthesized by mechanical alloying

Nanocrystalline L12-Al3(Ti,Zr) intermetallic has been synthesized directly by mechanical alloying of elemental blends of the nominal composition Al75(Ti25−xZrx) for x = 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25. The long range order parameter is found to increase with the Zr content. The lattice parameter difference between the L12-Al3(Ti,Zr) and Al was minimum for the alloy with 10% Zr. A very high hardness of 3.23 GPa was achieved for the L12 phase in the Al75Ti15Zr10 composition in the green compact condition with a relative density of 77.6%.