Intercalated intermetallic compounds AlTi₃ and Fe₂Ti in microrods and microtubes obtained by invariant reaction of mechanically milled system Al₄₃Ti₃₆Fe₂₁

This paper reports the production of intermetallic microrods and microtubes from the decomposition of an intermetallic compound in an AlTiFe system. The intermetallic compound was obtained by mechanosynthesis of elemental powders of Al, Ti and Fe over 300 h at 400 rpm, sintering from compacted powder particles at 300 MPa per minute and at 900 °C for 3600 s in an argon atmosphere. The milled and sintered samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The intermetallic AlTi₃ and Fe₃Al phases were obtained during the milling process. After sintering, a decomposition of these intermetallic phases was found-Al₃Ti_0.75Fe_0.25, Al₃Ti, FeTi, AlTi₃, Ti₉Al₂₃, Fe₂Ti, Al₈₆Fe₁₄ and Al_0.4Fe_0.6. As a result of the decomposition, we observed the formation of hexagonal rods with intercalated phases of AlTi₃ and Fe₂Ti.