Silicon (2018) 10:1161–1169 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Evaluation of Different Parameters on Production of Zr 2 Cu by Mechanical Alloying Ali Mohammad Noori 1 · Rezvan Yavari 2 · Hamidreza Baharvandi 1 · Ali Alizade 1 Received: 1 December 2015 / Accepted: 30 May 2017 / Published online: 2 October 2017 © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2017 Abstract Intermetallic compounds because of their high melting point temperature, good mechanical properties, and high corrosion resistance are attractive. The Zr 2 Cu intermetallic compound can be produced by a mechani- cal alloying method. In this study, alloying was carried out by using the pure copper and zirconium powders under argon atmosphere at different time durations from 30 to 120 minutes. Milling speed was chosen as 220, 250, and 280 rpm. Mechanical alloying was done with five differ- ent balls to powder ratios (BPR) of 1:10, 1:15, 1:20, 1:25, 1:50. Prepared powders were studied by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). XRD results showed that with increasing milling time and ball to powder ratio, the amount of amorphous phase increases, however, particle size reduces. By increas- ing the ball to powder ratio, speed and time of milling crystallite size decreases, but lattice strain increases. Keywords Cu and Zr powder · Zr 2 Cu · Mechanical alloying · XRD · SEM 1 Introduction Intermetallic compound is a brief title for compositions and intermetallic phases whose crystal structures are different  Rezvan Yavari rezvanyavari@ymail.com 1 Malek Ashtar University, Tehran, Iran 2 Department of Materials Engineering, K.N.Toosi University, Tehran, Iran from their constituent metals. These materials are obtained by combining different metals and form a very large and diverse class of materials. Properties and characteristics of intermetallic compounds are generally different from their metal components, so that the density, ductility and conductivity are reduced [1]. In the copper-zirconium system for a wide range of chemical composition, different zirconium-rich sediments form which change the level of strength with their size and morphology [2]. According to previous studies it has been found that sediments of zirconium in a copper field are in the form of intermetallic compounds. In a copper- rich area dif- ferent intermetallic compounds with various stoichiometry such as ZrCu 3 [3], ZrCu 4 [3–6], and Zr 2 Cu 9 [7–9] have been reported by researchers. Diluted and precipitate hardened Zr-Cu alloys are highly regarded due to their interesting features at room temperature and high temperatures. Zr 2 Cu alloy is among the intermetallic compounds of zirconium and copper. This alloy is used to produce W-ZrC compos- ites. One application of this composite is high temperature applications. Recently these composites have been produced by an infiltration method that requires a relatively low tem- perature. The basis of this method is infiltrating Zr 2 Cu in the WC preform [10–15]. Mechanical alloying, casting and cold rolling are suitable methods for making Zr 2 Cu alloys. Due to the application of this alloy in the aerospace industry, additional phases and oxides should be omitted. For this reason, alloying in a controlled atmosphere is the best, cheapest and the most accessible method to produce this alloy (depending on the available facilities and the high cost of raw materials). Several factors affect mechanical alloying. Some of these factors include time and speed of milling, ball to powder ratio and atmosphere of milling [16]. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-017-9588-z