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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