THE MECHANISM OF MECHANICAL ALLOYING OF MOSI2

An incubation time exists for the formation of MoSi2 by mechanical alloying (MA). For the particular milling conditions employed, the bulk of MoSi2 formation occurs between 3 h and 12 min and 3 h and 13 min. This abrupt formation of MoSi2 during MA suggests that the reaction occurs by a form of self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS), when a critical amount of stored energy (in the form of interfacial energy and cold work) is introduced by MA, and increases the adiabatic reaction temperature sufficiently to make the reaction self-sustaining.