Effect of chromium and aluminum addition on anisotropic and microstructural characteristics of ball milled nanocrystalline iron

• Structural evolution in Fe–20Cr–5Al alloy during ball milling is reported.
• Effect of alloying addition on the anisotropic behavior of iron was studied.
• Agreement in anisotropic factor calculated theoretically and experimentally.

Prior studies on synthesis of nanocrystalline elements have discussed the effect of ball milling on lattice parameter, crystallite size, and micro-strain. For elemental milled powders, the anisotropic peak broadening does not change with increasing milling time. However, the effect of alloying addition on the anisotropic behavior of ball milled nanocrystalline powders remains an unexplored area. Here we report the effect of chromium and aluminum addition on the anisotropic behavior of iron in nanocrystalline Fe–20Cr–5Al (wt%) alloy powders synthesized by ball milling. The experimental results show that the anisotropic behavior of iron changes towards isotropic with milling. This change was also correlated to the theoretically calculated anisotropic factor from the change in elastic constant of iron due to milling. Addition of alloying elements exhibited a monotonic rise in the lattice parameter with crystallite size, which was attributed to the excess grain boundary interfacial energy and excess free volume at grain boundaries. Transmission electron microscopy image confirmed the crystallite size and nature of dislocation obtained using modified Williamson-Hall method.

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