Magnetic and mechanical properties of Cu (75Â wt%) - 316L grade stainless steels synthesized by ball milling and annealing

Elemental powders of Cu (75 wt%) and 316-stainless steel (25 wt%) has been subjected to ball milling upto 70 h followed by isothermal annealing at the temperature range of 350-750 °C for 1 h to investigate the microstructural evolution along with magnetic and mechanical properties. After 40 h of milling, the bcc Fe is almost dissolved in the solid solution of Cu but no significant change has been observed in the XRD pattern after 70 h of milling, Annealing of the alloy has resulted in precipitation of nanocrystalline bcc-Fe in Cu which triggers the soft ferromagnetic properties. The extensive mechanical characterization has been done at the microstructural scale by nanoindentation technique which demonstrates a hardening behavior of the compacted and annealed alloys due to possible precipitation of nanocrystalline bcc-Fe in Cu.