Point Defects And The B2 To Fcc Transformation In Milled FeRh

Abstract

ABSTRACTMössbauer measurements were made on FeRh containing 52 atomic percent (at.%) Fe after mechanical milling for different times in a high-energy SPEX 8000 vibrator mill. Hyperfine fields are compared with fields for annealed ferromagnetic (F) samples having the B2 structure in the range 52–58 at.% Fe. For annealed F samples, hyperfine field shifts of -1.66 T and -1.12 T were detected at majority FeFC and minority FeRh probes due to FeRh antisite atoms in, respectively, the first and second atomic shells. Analysis of dipolar fields indicates that the magnetization lies along the <110> direction. The transformation from F B2 phase to a metastable paramagnetic fcc phase was observed that was half complete in 8 minutes. Analysis of spectra for the milled F B2 phase show that a second point defect was produced by milling that induces shifts of +6 T and +8.5 T, respectively, at majority and minority probes. Manyspectra fits were made under different defect models that led to the conclusion that milling produces point defects in the triple-defect configuration: 2 Fe-vacancies and 1 Fe-antisite atom. Defect concentrations were determined and show that the fractional concentration of vacancies on the Fe-sublattice increases linearly with milling time, reaching 3 at.% after 8 minutes, a very large value. The rate of transformation from B2 to fcc phase appears to be independent of the concentrations of point defects in the B2 phase, indicating that the transformation is purely stress-induced, as in a martensite transformation.