High-temperature surface alloying of nanocrystalline nickel produced by surface mechanical attrition treatment

Abstract: A nanocrystalline surface layer is synthesized in Ni by surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT). The characterization of microstructure and composition indicates that foreign elements from hardened balls can permeate and diffuse into the surface layer during SMAT, which can further diffuse and homogenize in the surface layer when annealing at high temperature, leading to formation of new alloy. Foreign elements permeating into the surface layer during SMAT followed by diffusing and homogenizing at high temperature provide an alternative effective technology for surface modification. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]