Abstract
This study investigated the effect of process temperature on the alloying process during synthesis of $Sm_2Fe_{17}$ powder from ball-milled samarium oxide ($Sm_2O_3$) powders and a solid reducing agent of calcium hydrides ($CaH_2$) using iron nanopowder (n-Fe powder) by a reduction-diffusion (R-D) process. The $n-Fe-Sm_2O_3-CaH_2$ mixed powders were subjected to heat treatment at $850{\sim}1100^{\circ}C$ in $Ar-H_2$ for 5 h. It was found that the iron nanopowders in the mixed powders are sintered below $850^{\circ}C$ during the R-D process and the $SmH_2$ is synthesized by a reduced Sm that combines with $H_2$ around $850^{\circ}C$. The results showed that $SmH_2$ is able to separate Sm and $H_2$ respectively depending on an increase in process temperature, and the formed $Sm_2Fe_{17}$ phase on the surface of the sintered Fe nanopowder agglomerated at temperatures of $950{\sim}1100^{\circ}C$ in this study. The formation of the $Sm_2Fe_{17}$ layer is mainly due to the diffusion reaction of Sm atoms into the sintered Fe nanopowder, which agglomerates above $950^{\circ}C$. We concluded that nanoscale $Sm_2Fe_{17}$ powder can be synthesized by controlling the diffusion depth using well-dispersed Fe nanopowders.
