Preparation and Structural Observation of Co2MnSi Heusler Alloys by Mechanical Alloying

Abstract

A Co2MnSi Heusler alloy has been prepared by mechanical alloying (MA) method successfully using a mixture of elemental Co50Mn25Si25 powders. A two-phase mixture of amorphous phase and remaining Mn were obtained after 5 hours of MA without any evidence for the formation of Co2MnSi alloys. The saturation magnetization of MA powders decreased with MA time due to the magnetic dilution by alloying with nonmagnetic Mn and Si elements to 48 emu/g after 5 hours of MA. On the other hand, a Co2MnSi single phase was obtained by MA after 3 hours and subsequently heat treated up to 650 °C. X-ray diffraction result showed that the average grain size of Co2MnSi Heusler alloys prepared by MA for 5 hours and heat treatment to be in the range of 85 nm. The saturation magnetization of Co2MnSi Heusler alloys prepared by MA and heat treatment reached a maximum value of 112 emu/g for 5 hours MA sample. It was also observed that the coercivity of 5 hours MA sample annealed at 650 °C was fairly low value of 27 Oe.