Thermo-mechanical responses of nanocrystalline Al-Fe alloy processed using mechanical alloying and high frequency heat induction sintering

In the current investigation, a nanocrystalline alloy Al-10 wt.% Fe was synthesized from metallic powders using the mechanical alloying (MA) technique, for various milling hours. The consolidation and sintering of the alloyed powders was performed in a high frequency induction heat sintering (HFIHS) machine. The minimum crystallite size and the maximum hardness of the sintered sample was found to be 30 nm and 2.05 GPa, respectively. The maximum compressive yield strength of the alloy was observed to be 660 MPa at room temperature. The bulk nanocrystalline alloy produced from 150 h milled powder showed significant enhancement in the thermal stability, this specific alloy displayed a compressive yield strength of 570 MPa at 573 K. The compression experimental results of sintered samples revealed high strength coupled with large deformation to failure.