In this study, powder metallurgy and severe plastic deformation by high-pressure torsion (HPT) approaches were combined to achieve both full density and grain refinement at the same time. Water-atomized pure iron powders were consolidated to disc-shaped samples at room temperature using HPT of 10 GPa up to 3 turns. The resulting microstructural size decreases with increasing strain and reaches a steady-state with nanocrystalline (down to ~250 nm in average grain size) structure. The water-atomized iron powders were deformed plastically as well as fully densified, as high as 99% of relative density by high pressure, resulting in effective grain size refinements and enhanced microhardness values.

This paper reports the results of an investigation into the effect of Cu additions upon the nano-crystallization behaviour of an Al-Y-Ni alloy. 1 at.% Cu was added to a base alloy of Al/sub 88/Y₄Ni/sub 8/ either by substitution for Al to form Al/sub 87/Y₄Ni/sub 8/Cu₁, or by substitution for Ni to form Al/sub 88/Y₄Ni/sub 7/Cu₁. Consistent with previous findings in the literature, the substitution of Cu for Al was found to increase the thermal stability of the amorphous phase whereas the substitution of Cu for Ni was found to decrease its thermal stability. Comparing the microstructures of these alloys after heat treatment to produce equivalent volume fractions of Al nanocrystals showed average grain sizes of 14 nm, 12 nm and 9 nm for the alloys Al/sub 88/Y₄Ni/sub 8/, Al/sub 87/Y₄Ni/sub 8/Cu₁respectively. The effect of Cu in refining the size of the nanocrystals was attributed to enhanced nucleation increasing the number density of the nanocrystals, rather than diffusion limited or interface limited growth.