Solid state reactions in nanometer scaled diffusion couples prepared usinghigh energy ball milling

Solid state reactions during heating of diffusion couples prepared by high energy ball milling mixtures of elemental powders have been studied. It has been shown that when the size of the diffusion couples is reduced and the atomic diffusivity is enhanced through prolonged milling, the temperatures for activating the solid state reactions decrease significantly. In the AI- Ti and Cu-Al systems, the phases formed during heating the mechanically pre pared nanometer scaled diffusion couples are the same as those formed durin g mechanical alloying and during low temperature annealing of multilayer th in films prepared by using sputtering. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All r ights reserved.