An Investigation toward the Nano-Crystallization of Fe55Cr18Mo7B16C4 Bulk Amorphous Alloy

Abstract

Nano- crystallization of Fe55Cr18Mo7B16C4 bulk amorphous alloy has been analyzed by X- ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetric test, and TEM observations in this research. In practice, crystallization and growth mechanism were evaluated using DSC tests in four different heating rates (10, 20, 30, 40 K/min) and kinetic models. A two -step crystallization process was observed in the alloy in which α – Fe, Fe23B6, and Fe3C phases were crystallized in the structure after annealing process. In addition, activation energy for the first step of crystallization process (i.e. α – Fe phase) was measured to be 276 (kj/mol) and 290 (kj/mol) according to Kissinger and Ozawa models respectively. Avrami exponent calculated from DSC curves was 2 and a three -dimensional diffusion controlled mechanism with decreasing nucleation rate was observed in the alloy. Further, it is known from the TEM observations that crystalline α – Fe phase nucleated in structure of the alloy in an average size of 10 nm and completely mottled morphology.