The Mechanism of Mg2Al3 Formation by Mechanical Alloying

H. Suwarno (Center for Nuclear Fuel Technology, National Nuclear Energy Agency Puspiptek, Serpong, Tangerang 15314, Indonesia)
W.A. Adi (Center for Nuclear Industry Material Technology, National Nuclear Energy Agency Puspiptek, Serpong, Tangerang 15314, Indonesia)
A. Insani (Center for Nuclear Industry Material Technology, National Nuclear Energy Agency Puspiptek, Serpong, Tangerang 15314, Indonesia)

Atom Indonesia Journal
Vol 35, No 1 (2009): January 2009

Synthetic and characterization of the Mg2Al3 formation by mechanical alloying have been carried out using a high energy ball milling process. Mechanical alloying is a technique of solid state reactions among two or more metals to form a new alloy through the deformation properties of the metals. The Mg2Al3 alloy was formed by milling the individual constituents using a high energy ball milling under the varied milling time of 10, 20 and 30 h. The refinement results on the x-ray diffraction analysis show that the observation and calculation are fit to each other. After milling for 10, 20 and 30 h the mixed Mg and Al metals are converted into Mg2Al3 at the composition of 71.82, 90.73 and 96.19 wt%. It is concluded that the Mg2Al3 alloy can be performed by high energy mechanical alloying after 30 h of milling. The mechanism of the Mg2Al3 formation is discussed. Received: 14 August 2008; Revised:12 November 2008; Accepted: 11 December 2008