Effect of sintering conditions on the magnetic and structural properties of Fe 0.6 Mn 0.1 Al 0.3 synthesized by mechanical alloying

In order to study the effect of sintering condition on the structural and magnetic behavior of prealloyed metallic powders of Fe _0.6 Mn _0.1 Al _0.3 system, two different thermal treatments were employed. All samples were previously milled and then compacted. Later, the sintering process was carried out in two cycles. For the first one, a sintering time of 2 h was followed by a cooling process governed by the inertia of the furnace. In the second treatment, a sintering time of 0.17 h with a controlled slow ramp of 1 °C/min between 500 °C and 250 °C. All samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction and Mössbauer spectroscopy. It was found that the sintering time improves the crystallinity while the magnetic behavior was modified by the changes in the cooling rate.