Consolidation and mechanical behaviour of nanophase iron alloy powders prepared by mechanical milling

This special feature presents a brief overview of the recent developments i n preparing and characterising bulk nanocrystalline metallic alloys from me chanically milled powders, focusing on the work on iron alloys conducted in the author's laboratory. The strategies and procedures used for consolidat ing the powders into full density compacts while maintaining the grain size s in the nanophase regime (< 100 nm) are summarised. The unusual mechanical properties observed of the fully dense nanophase alloys, as well as their potential applications, are discussed in comparison with those of conventio nal coarse grained counterparts.