Nanocrystalline FeAl-TiN composites obtained by hot-pressing consolidation of reactively milled powders

Bulk FeAl-TiN nanocomposites with 50, 30 and 10 at.% TiN were produced by reactive milling and subsequent consolidation of nanocrystalline Fe(Al)-TiN composite powders at 1000 °C under a pressure of 7.7 GPa. Transformation of Fe(Al) into FeAl intermetallic occurred during consolidation. The mean crystallite size of FeAl and TiN was about 20 nm. We infer that application of high pressure hinders grain growth at elevated temperatures. The microhardness of the nanocomposites varied between 1497 and 1305 HV0.2, depending on the amount TiN.