Synthesis of nano-decagonal quasicrystalline material by mechanical alloying

Abstract

Mechanical milling has been established as a viable route for the synthesis of a variety of advanced materials including nano-crystalline materials. In the present investigation, the nano-decagonal (nano-D)quasicrystalline phase in Al–Co–Ni has been synthesized by mechanical milling. The mechanical alloying of the Al70Co15Ni15 alloy composition was performed in a high-energy ball mill up to 60 hours under liquid hexane medium at the speed of 400 rpm with a ball to powder ratio of 40: 1. It was found that the evolution of nano-decagonal phase appears after 60 h of milling. The stability of the nano-D phase was investigated under vacuum (base pressure 10−6 mbar) annealing at 600 °C. It is interesting to observe the coarsening of the nano-D phase instead of any other phase transformation. The scanning and transmission electron microscopic investigation was carried out in details for the microstructural and structural characterization. © 2014 American Scientific Publishers.