Influence of process control agents in the development of a metastable Fe–Zr based alloy

Abstract In this work, a Fe–Zr based alloy prepared by mechanical alloying (MA) was investigated. The balance between cold welding and fracturing is controlled by the addition of a surface additive, a process control agent (PCA). Several PCAs such as hexane, polyethylene glycol, cyclopentane, naphthalene and hexanone were used. The results indicate that PCAs produce considerable effects on the particle size as well as on the structural behavior and thermal stability of the as milled powders, if compared with material synthesized without surfactant. We develop materials with higher thermal stability and disordered structure. Nevertheless, in other samples high crystallite size (>100 nm) was found. Thermal analysis confirms the higher thermal stability of the disordered phase in the sample with hexane and naphthalene as PCA, probably due to C solid solution.