The effect of Nb and Ni addition on crystallization behavior of amorphous–nanocrystalline Fe–Cr–B–Si alloys

The crystallization behavior of amorphous Fe–Cr–B–Si alloys in the presence of Ni and Nb elements was the goal of this study. In this regard, four different amorphous–nanocrystalline FeCrSiBM (M=Fe, Nb, Ni, NiNb) alloys were prepared using mechanical alloying technique up to 20 h. Based on the achieved results, in contrast to FeCrSiB alloy, the amorphous phase can be successfully prepared in the presence of Ni and Nb in composition. Although the crystallization mechanism of prepared amorphous phase in different alloys was the same, the FeCrSiBNb alloy showed higher thermal stability in comparison with other samples. The crystallization activation energy of this amorphous alloy was estimated about 410 kJ mol which was much higher than FeCrSiBNi (195.5 kJ mol) and FeCrSiBNiNb (360 kJ mol) samples. The calculated values of Avrami exponent (1.5 < n < 2.2) indicated that the crystallization process in different alloying systems is the same and to be governed by a three-dimensional diffusion-controlled growth.