Influence of the V content on microstructure and hardness of high-energy ball milled nanocrystalline Al-V alloys

Nanocrystalline Al-xV (x = 0, 0.5, 2, 5, 10 and 20 at. %) alloys were produced by high-energy ball milling (HEBM) followed by consolidation at room temperature under uniaxial pressure of 3 GPa. Grain size, dispersion of the alloying element (V) and formation of solid solution were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and scanning electron microscope (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS). High-energy ball milling imparted nanocrystalline structure and high solid solubility of V in Al - several orders of magnitude higher than the thermodynamically predicted value. Hardness of Al-xV alloys, which increased with increasing the V content, was higher than the commercial Al alloys. High hardness of the Al-xV alloys was attributed to the solid solution strengthening caused by high solid solubility of V and grain refinement <100 nm.