Consolidation, Mechanical Properties, and Phase Stability of Mechanically Alloyed Fe-N Powder Compositions

Abstract

Mechanical processing of iron powder and mechanical alloying of iron-aluminium, carbon, and nitrogen powder compositions resulted in a highly refined bcc-Fe nanograin microstructure. The milled microstructures were thermally stable. The refined nanostructure was retained while producing a full dense compact by explosive compaction. Evaluation of macrostructure properties were obtained after compaction. Tensile strength, derived from hardness data, suggest that tensile strengths could exceed 3 GPa.