effect of cu-substitution on the microstructure and magnetic properties of fe-15%ni alloy prepared by mechanical alloying

In this study, nanostructured (fe85ni15)100-xcux (x = 0, 0.5, 1.5, 3 and 5) powders were synthesized via mechanical alloying process. the obtained phases, microstructure, and magnetic properties of these alloys were studied by x-ray diffraction analysis (xrd), scanning electron microscopy (sem), and vibration sample magnetometer (vsm). xrd results indicated that after a suitable time of milling, ni and cu were homogeneously distributed in the fe matrix, and (bcc) α-(fe(ni-cu)) solid solution was obtained. it was found that by increasing cu content in the alloy, work hardening increased, and thus the size of grains decreased while the internal micro-strain increased. also, morphological observations indicated that the addition of cu led to the formation of finer particles. also, vsm analysis showed that the addition of cu into fe-ni alloys lowered ms. on the other hand, the coercivity increased by increasing copper content up to 1.5 at. %.