Synthesis of Fe-Al-Si intermediary phases by reactive sintering

In this work, Fe-Al-Si alloys were prepared by reactive sintering. The contents of silicon and aluminium ranged between 0-30 wt-% and 10-40 wt-% respectively. Aluminium, silicon and AlSi30 master alloy powders prepared by mechanical machining and/or milling and commercial powder of high purity iron were used for sintering. Powders were blended and pressed at room temperature. Sintering was carried out at 950 degrees C for 60 min. Compact low porosity products without unreacted components were prepared, if a powder mixture contained 15-20 wt-% of silicon and 20-25 wt-% of aluminium. It was shown that these materials contain two phases (Al(2)FeSi and AlFeSi). Hardness of the alloys increased with growing silicon content, while the increase in aluminium content reduced the hardness.