Synthesis of the quasi-crystalline phase in Al63Cu25Fe12 powders prepared by mechanical alloying

This work investigated the quasicrystalline phase formation during heat treatment in the Al63Cu25Fe12 alloy prepared via mechanical alloying, starting from pure elemental powders. The mechanical alloying process was performed at a speed of 300 rpm for times up to 70 hours. The structural evolution of the mechanically alloyed Al63Cu25Fe12 powders at different stages of milling was examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The present results showed that mechanical alloying of the Al63Cu25Fe12 alloy did not result in the quasicrystalline icosahedral phase (i-phase). The long time milling resulted in the formation of an AlFe(Cu) solid solution identified as the beta-phase. In order to examine the structural changes with annealing temperature, the mechanically alloyed powders were heat treated at 600, 700 and 800 degrees C for 4 hours under vacuum. However, the formation of a quasicrystalline phase in the Al63Cu25Fe12 alloy was observed after additional annealing at elevated temperature. In the present work, quasicrystalline phase formation in both the as-milled and heat-treated powders is discussed in detail.