Mechanical alloying of Fe-Al with oxide and carbide dispersoids

Abstract

Mechanical alloying is a technique which allows the creation of alloys with very fine grain size and containing a dispersion of stable particles. This process has been used to make an Fe35Al alloy containing uniformly distributed oxide and carbide particles in order to see whether the fine grain size or the particles are capable of enhancing the limited ductility of this alloy. The materials prepared have a high strength but show limited tensile ductility (about 2%) and fail by transgranular cleavage, despite the fine grain size and particles present. Carbon in interstitial solution in the matrix may be responsible for enhancing sensitivity to cleavage, thereby reducing the ductility.