Processing of iron aluminides by pressureless sintering of elemental iron and aluminum

摘要

A pressureless sintering process for producing FeAl wherein the heating rate is controlled in a manner which minimizes expansion of a mixture of elemental powders of iron and aluminum. During the process, the heating rate is maintained below 1° C./min to minimize the volume expansion during the formation of the intermediate phase Fe2Al5. As a result of the process, the final density can be increased up to 95% of the theoretical density. The sequence of phases formed during the heating of Fe+Al mixture were identified by X-ray diffraction, optical microscopy, SEM and along with DSC data were correlated to the expansion and shrinkage behavior of the samples.