Amorphization of transition metal‐Si alloy powders by mechanical alloying

Amorphization of TM‐Si (TM: trasition metal) alloy powders by mechanical alloying has been systematically investigated. Pure element powder mixtures were mechanically alloyed for ten hours with a high energy ball mill. The results show that amorphous metallic silicide powders were successfully synthesized in Ti‐Si, Zr‐Si, Nb‐Si, and Ta‐Si systems. Prediction of the amorphization range of mechanically alloyed TM‐Si powders by the Miedema model is inappropriate. The possible criteria for the amorphization of TM3Si powders after mechanical alloying 10 h in a shaker ball mill are (a) the free energy of amorphous state of TM3Si powders is less than −31.95 kJ/mole, and (b) the silicon to trasition metal atomic radius ratio is less than 0.985.