Microstructure and hardness of nano-sized Fe-based self-fluxing alloy powder with SiC particles

The Fe-based self-fluxing alloy powders and SiC particles were mixed and milled by high energy ball-milling, and their microstructure and micro-hardness were investigated after subsequent compaction and sintering. The initial alloy powders with a mean size of approximately 80 microm were fined to 2.1 microm after milling at 800 rpm for 5 h. However, the powder mixture of alloy powder and SiC particle showed much larger powder size compared to the initial alloy powders. The bulk composites were obtained from the powder mixture by compaction under a pressure of 800 MPa for 10 min and sintering at 1073 K for 3 h. The composites had much higher micro-hardness of more than 700 Hv compared to alloy powder. The micro-hardness of composites slightly increased with the content of SiC particles.