Mechanical Alloying Process of a Mixture of α-Fe and γ-Fe4N Powders

Abstract
Bcc-like metastable powder of iron nitride can be synthesized by mechanical alloying of a mixture of elemental Fe and γ-Fe4N powders. Its heat of formation deduced from differential scanning calorimetry is about +6.5 kJ/mol at a composition of 11 at%N. Both this value and its magnetization at room temperature are in good agreement with those of the bcc-like powder produced by ball milling of elemental Fe powder in NH3 gas atmosphere.