Effect of Ball-Milling Method on the Formation of ODS Fe-14Cr-2Al-1Si-0.3Ta-1Y2O3 Powders

Abstract

Mechanical alloying (MA) process has been examined to synthesize ferritic stainless steel powder dispersed with nano-sized Y2O3 particles. A pilot-scale horizontal mill was fabricated and compared with laboratory-scale ball mills and an attrition mill. Horizontal milling resulted in a much better distribution of particle size and dispersoids than other milling methods. Although horizontal milling is considered as a low-energy process requiring long times, processing time could be markedly reduced with increasing the diameter of horizontal mill with a proper control of milling parameters.