Preparation Of Zrvfe Nano Powders By Laser Ablation

Nano-sized ZrVFe alloy powders were prepared by the ablation of powder compact in alcohol using a Nd-YAG pulsed Laser. The Zr57V35.8Fe72 alloy commercially designated as ST707 has long been known as the ideal solution for various vacuum applications. The target for the ablation was sintered pellets of Zr57V35.8Fe72 alloy powder. The alloy was prepared by arc melting and Hydride-DeHydride method. The ablated powders were mostly circular having fairly large size distribution smaller than 200 nm in all cases. The X-ray diffraction study revealed that the ablated alloy retained the crystal structure of the target alloy. Nevertheless, Fe and V contents in the ablated powder were lower than those in the target alloy. This was believed to result from the high vapour pressures of Fe and V compared to that of Zr. The size of the powders ablated at high energy fluence tends to decrease due at least partly to the breakdown of previously made ones.