NiAl intermetallics produced by cold-rolling elemental sheets

A reaction between Ni and Al in equiatomic amounts was promoted by cold-rolling. Foils of the elements were repeatedly rolled. After each pass the composite was folded, producing a multilayered structure of elements still unreacted by intimately intermixed to give a crystallite size of a few nanometers. When the composite was heated to around 200 °C, a reaction occured resulting in the formation of NiAl3. Further heating at 450 °C brings about the formation of NiAl. The process was followed by DSC and XRD. The final product consisted of flakes of intermetallic compound with no particles of the elements still detectable.