FeAl multilayers by sputtering: heat treatment and the phase evolution

Multilayers of Fe and Al corresponding to the composition Fe58Al42 (equal l ayer thickness) have been deposited by sputtering. The as-deposited layers halt been characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques and transmiss ion electron microscopy (TEM) to determine the initial phases present. The results indicate the presence of both the elements and there is no evidence for any intermetallics to be present in the as-deposited films. The evolut ion and transformation of these elemental multilayers to intermetallic comp ound on heating is studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) co upled with XRD and TEM techniques. The results of solid state heat treatmen t are compared to that of laser mixing carried out on these samples, Attemp ts are made to understand the sequence of the observed phases from the know ledge of thermodynamics and kinetics. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All ri ghts reserved.