Texture modification, grain refinement and improved hardness/corrosion balance of a FeAl alloy by pulsed electron beam surface treatment in the “heating mode”

It is demonstrated that significant surface modifications can be generated by low-energy, high-current pulsed electron beam treatments in the “heating mode” (which does not melt the surface). The extremely fast thermomechanical cycles generate grain refinement and texture modification at the surface of a Fe–40 at.% Al alloy. Together with the formation of vacancies, this accounts for a significant increase in the surface microhardness. Nevertheless, because of the absence of craters with the heating mode, the corrosion resistance was unchanged.