Formation of ternary intermetallic phase by mechanical alloying of Al-Fe-Ge

The solid state interaction by mechanical alloying (MA) between the components of 65Al-10Fe-25Ge (at.%) powder mixture was studied as a function of milling time. Mechanical alloying was performed using a vibratory ball-mill under an argon atmosphere. The investigation was carried out by x-ray (XRD) diffractomery, Mossbauer spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) methods. It was found that after 80 h of milling the alloy structure consisted of an amorphous phase and a small amount of crystalline Ge. Afer 100 h of MA the formation of a ternary crystalline phase from the amorphous one was observed. The phase lattice was found to be tetragonal and isostructural to Al sub 4 Si sub 2 Fe compound. Chemical composition of the new phase was described as Al sub 4 Ge sub 2 Fe.