The formation and evolution mechanism of amorphous layer surrounding Nb nano-grains in Nb-Al system during mechanical alloying process.

Abstract The microstructure and phase evolution in Nb-Al system during MA are systemically studied. The existence of Nb-Al amorphous layer surrounding Nb nano-grains after short-time ball milling was confirmed by the HRTEM observation as well as the crystallization behavior in the annealing experiment. It was also found that after short time milling, only very little Al can enter the crystal lattice of Nb and substitute for Nb, whereas most of Al mainly concentrate in this amorphous layer surrounding Nb nano-grains. What's more, interface thermodynamic analysis and calculation were employed to investigate the phase formation and evolution of this amorphous layer in Nb-Al binary system during MA process. Accordingly, positive driving force (≡-ΔG) definitely exists for the formation of the amorphous layer {NbAl} surrounding Nb nano-grains. Thus, these amorphous layers can form and exist stably in the short-time milled Nb-Al system. With the milling time prolonging, this amorphous layer becomes unstable and can crystallize into Nb(Al) ss solid solution when its thickness increases beyond a critical thickness. The critical thickness of this amorphous layer is also predicted by the interface thermodynamics calculation and the corresponding calculated value (approximately 1.9 nm) is consistent with the observed thickness (about 2.2 nm) by the HRTEM within the error range. More importantly, the solubility of Al in the lattice of Nb can be significantly increased resulting from the crystallization of this amorphous layer {NbAl}. Our work provides a new and rational perspective to well understand the complicated microstructure and phase evolution in various nano-sized systems during MA process. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Nb-Al amorphous layer was found surrounding Nb nano-grains. • The amorphous layers crystallized into solid solution after long-time milling. • The solubility of Al in Nb increased resulting from the crystallization. • The observation well agreed with the interface thermodynamics calculation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]