Synthesis and characterization of nanocrystalline Fe60X20B10P10 (X = Co, Ni) alloys

Abstract In this work, two nanocrystalline alloys, Fe 60 Ni 20 P 10 B 10 and Fe 60 Co 20 P 10 B 10 , were produced by mechanical alloying processing them at milling times of 5, 40 and 100 h. Structural properties were determined by X-ray diffraction and transmission Mossbauer spectroscopy. The 100-h milled alloys consisted primarily of metastable bcc Fe(Co, Ni) nanocrystals (11–17 nm) with different Fe-rich environments. Differential scanning calorimetry measurements were performed in order to study the thermal stability of the nanocrystalline phases and their crystalline growth. The values for the apparent activation energy of the main crystallization processes were 2.1 ± 0.1 and 2.4 ± 0.1 eV, respectively, which were associated with grain growth mechanisms.