Hardening of V–Si alloys during high energy ball milling

• The development of new vanadium alloys with varying Si concentrations via powder metallurgical processing route is shown.
• A proof of the mechanically induced formation of the intermetallic V3Si phase from the alloy composition V-25Si is given.
• The influence of the mechanisms of solid solution and second phase particle hardening during mechanical alloying is depicted.

Vanadium–silicon alloys were produced by a powder metallurgical processing route. To this end, mechanical alloying of V–Si alloys with varied Si concentrations was carried out in a planetary ball mill. Si is an effective strengthening element for V alloys due to the solid solution strengthening effect and the formation of vanadium silicides at higher Si concentrations. The influence of the Si concentration, ranging between 2 and 25 at.%, on the properties of the mechanically alloyed materials was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and microhardness measurements.

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