Influence of Milling Conditions on the Preparation of Fe75Si20B5 Solid Solution.

Fe based (Fe75Si20B5) solid solution was prepared in powdered form using a high-energy ball-milling system keeping the material under an Ar atmosphere. Milling parameters such as ball to powder ratio (BPR), milling speed, milling time etc. were optimized to achieve desired micro-structure. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Mössbauer spectroscopy were used to characterize the evolution of the microstructure with milling. It is observed that in hard milling condition (BPR: 16:1, 350 rpm), after milling for 5 h, the dissolution of B and Si into the Fe lattice leads to the formation of bcc α-Fe(Si,B) solid solution. However, in soft milling conditions (BPR 8:1, 200 rpm) even up to milling for 20 h, alloy remained in unmixed stage and further milling for 40 h results in single phasic FeSiB alloy. LeBail fitting and the modified Williamson Hall (mWH) plot were applied to evaluate the microstructure with milling parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]