Mechanical milling of Fe-B intermetallics

Mechanical milling of crystalline compounds and mechanical alloying of elemental components yield different products in the case of the Fe-B system. FeB and Fe2B cannot be amorphized by mechanical grinding. The appearance of the bcc Fe phase during mechanical milling of Fe2B is due not to decomposition into elemental components, but to contamination from the milling tools. When the stoichiometry is changed, either by contamination during mechanical milling or by mechanical alloying of Fe+FeB or Fe+Fe2B powder mixture, an amorphous alloy is formed with composition close to Fe80B20. (author). Letter-to-the-editor