Microstructural and magnetic behavior of an equiatomic NiCoAlFe alloy prepared by mechanical alloying

Equiatomic NiCoAlFe powder alloys were synthesized by mechanical alloying. The microstructural evolution of the mechanically alloyed powders at different times was followed with X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The as-mechanically alloyed powders were subjected to a rapid annealing treatment at 1273 K and 1473 K during 3 min in vacuum. X-ray diffraction studies show the structure of both, the as-mechanically alloyed and annealed powders, consisted in a mixture of nanocrystalline simple phases (FCC + BCC). Crystallite size, after annealing, still remained in nanoscale. Coercivity increased due to the decrease in crystallite size and because of the defects caused by mechanical alloying in the as-mechanically alloyed samples; then coercivity decreased due to the phenomenon of random magnetic anisotropy and tended to stabilize with longer alloying times. A similar behavior was observed in annealed samples at 1273 K. However, random magnetic anisotropy was not observed after annealing at 1473 K because crystals with larger sizes were produced, and a steady increase in coercivity was observed.