Synthesis and analysis of nanocrystalline β1-Cu3Al and β2-NiAl intermetallic-reinforced aluminum matrix composite by high energy ball milling

Nanocrystalline β1-Cu3Al and β2-NiAl intermetallic compounds were in-situ reinforced in the aluminum matrix with the atomic composition of Al67Cu20Ni13 by the mechanical alloying of elemental powders. Both β1-Cu3Al, β2-NiAl phases that can be only co-synthesized in Cu base alloys have been obtained after 15h milling in this study. The phase evolution during milling process was investigated by X-ray diffraction. The β1-Cu3Al, β2-NiAl phases were metastable with further milling time up to 40 h. Specially, unreacted Al matrix has been totally transformed to amorphous state in the final powder. A remarkable crystalline size of 6.5 nm was reached after 15 h milling time. Thermal stability of the milled powder was also studied by differential thermal analysis. It is shown that β1-Cu3Al, β2-NiAl phases were stable up to higher than 550 °C. Moreover, the inter-diffusion between Al matrix and Cu3Al within the temperature range of 620-740 °C led to the formation of superstructure ζ1-Al3Cu4 phase.