Liquid phase sintering of Fe-Cu super-saturated solid solution powders produced by mechanical alloying

The super-saturated solid solution of Fe-Cu powders are prepared by mechanical alloying of the elemental Fe and Cu powders, and the sintering behavior of the mechanically alloyed powders is investigated together with the separation behavior of the liquid Cu phase. It is indicated that the chemical compositions of the mechanically alloyed powders are 10approx.33 mass%Cu. The powders obtained are very hard in the as-milled state, hence, they are subjected to a softening treatments of 1173 K-0.6 ks, and then compacted to test pieces using metallic die. Sintering of the powder compacts is performed at 1373 K which is just above the melting point of copper.