Effect of Ni content on the austenite stability and mechanical properties of nanocrystalline Fe-Ni alloy fabricated by spark plasma sintering

The mechanical behavior and the change of retained austenite of nanocrystalline Fe-Ni alloy have been investigated by considering the effect of various Ni addition amount. The nanocrystalline Fe-Ni alloy samples were rapidly fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The SPS is a well-known effective sintering process with an extremely short densification time not only to reach a theoretical density value but also to prevent a grain growth, which could result in a nanocrystalline structures. The effect of Ni addition on the compressive stress-strain behavior was analyzed. The variation of the volume fraction of retained austenite due to deformation was quantitatively measured by means of x-ray diffraction and microscope analyses. The strain-induced martensite transformation was observed in Fe-Ni alloy. The different amount of Ni influenced the rate of the strain-induced martensite transformation kinetics and resulted in the change of the work hardening during the compressive deformation.