Study of mechanical properties of an iron phosphorus based alloys under various aging time

We reported to Fe-P based alloys are observed as one of the promising materials which could replace Si-steel on the basis of two factors: i) the cost of Fe-P based alloys are well expected to be about 20% lower than Fe-Si alloys. ii) Phosphorous addition enhances the soft magnetic properties of pure Fe. Elemental Fe with Fe-P and Fe-Si master alloys were taken in suitable weight ratios and induction melted to obtain Fe-0.4wt.% P-0.85wt.%Si alloy. Fe-P based alloys can be produced conventionally by powder Metallurgical route. The optical micrographs of Fe-P-Si alloys were aged at 500 °C with different aging time. Aged samples strength has increased due to the interaction of the moving dislocations with dispersed precipitates. The mechanical properties of the Fe-P-Si aged samples were increasing with aging time up to the peak aged then decrease for the over aged samples. TEM reveals the presence of two phases: Fe3P phase in α-Fe matrix phase. The sizes of the precipitates were increasing from ∼ 1.2 nm to ∼ 2.2 nm with aging time. (paper)