Amorphization and crystallization in Al–Ni–La during mechanical milling

The phase transformation reactions that occur in Al85Ni10La5 alloy during mechanical milling were studied by using fully and partially amorphous ribbons (comprised of fcc-Al, Al3Ni, Al11La3 and amorphous phases) as starting materials. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study showed that the Al3Ni phase crystallized, whereas the Al11La3 phase amorphized during mechanical milling. The results reported herein indicated that, irrespective of the phase constitution of the starting materials, the microstructure that evolved following mechanical milling was comprised of the same phases; namely: fcc-Al, Al3Ni and amorphous phases. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis revealed that the difference in the structural stability of the Al3Ni and Al11La3 phases are related to the chemical short-range order of the solute atoms in the amorphous phase. The results described in this paper provide an alternative approach to study glass forming ability during mechanical milling.