MECHANOCHEMICAL SYNTHESIS The formation of Fe–Ga–In nanocomposite particles using mechanochemical interaction of Fe with the Ga– In eutectic Tatiana Kiseleva 1, * , Eduard Levin 1,2 , Alla Novakova 1 , Alexander Ilyushin 1 , Tatiana Grigoryeva 3 , and Vladimir S ˇ epela ´k 4,5 1 Department of Physics, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie gory 1.-str.2, Moscow, Russia 119991 2 Department of Chemistry, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie gory 1.-str.3, Moscow, Russia 119991 3 Institute of Solid State Chemistry and Mechanochemistry SB RAS, Kutateladze str. 18, Novosibirsk, Russia 630128 4 Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Hermann-von-Helmgoltz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopold- shafen, Germany 5 Institute of Physics, Faculty of Mining and Geology, VŠB–Technical University of Ostrava, 70833 Ostrava, Czech Republic Received: 14 December 2017 Accepted: 15 March 2018 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018 ABSTRACT Mechanochemical interaction of Fe powder with the liquid Ga–In eutectic in the Fe-rich concentration corner of the Fe–Ga–In phase diagram was studied and compared with binary Fe–Ga and Fe–In specimens. Slow formation of diluted solid solutions in the Fe–In system was confirmed. In the Fe–Ga system, the dominant concentrated A2 solid solution is formed with H eff = 236 kOe, accompanied by ordered D0 3 and L1 2 phases. The Fe–Ga–In system features a stationary equilibrium between the concentrated A2 phase and D0 3 in the iron matrix. Introduction Iron-containing intermetallic compounds have recently attracted much attention owing to their application as functional composites, precursors for functional covers materials, and fillers of hybrid materials [1–4]. These systems are particularly inter- esting regarding their magnetic properties. Among them, Fe–Ga alloys are well known because of the magnetostriction effect [5, 6]. For concentrations of Ga about 19 and 28 at.%, a huge increase in magnetostriction, as compared to a-Fe, was observed [6]. This finding makes these alloys promising materials for applications as components of com- posites, for example, in the sensors and actuator technology. The influence of iron substitution with various elements, such as Co, Al, Ge, Si, and others, on magnetic properties of Fe-based alloys was treated in great details for a number of binary and ternary systems [6–10]. It was concluded that substitution of iron, or gallium, or both could have a drastic effect on magnetostriction. For example, substitution of Fe with Co up to 15 at.% in Fe 83 Ga 17 (zone I [6]) results Address correspondence to E-mail: Kiseleva.TYu@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2227-2 J Mater Sci Mechanochemical Synthesis