Structural and magnetic study of mechanically alloyed Fe30Cr70 by neutron thermo-diffractometry and magnetization measurements

Abstract The temperature dependence of magnetization together with neutron powder thermo-diffraction show that nominal ball milled Fe30Cr70 for 110 h is formed of two mixed phases (Fe20Cr80 + Fe), both of them with body centered cubic crystal structure and very close values for the lattice parameter (∼2.87 A). On heating above 900 K, the system exhibits an irreversible structural transformation, giving rise to the homogenization of the material, and then recovering the well-defined starting composition Fe30Cr70. Subsequent heating-cooling neutron thermo-diffraction cycles do not show any additional transformation, thus explaining the overlapping M(T) curves after the first heating.