Abstract: Microstructure and subsequent phase transformations on heating of the melt-spun Nd85Al15 alloy have been studied by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The melt-spun Nd85Al15 alloy shows two-stage transformation processes as follows: amorphous+72 nm supersaturated bcc-Nd(Al) solid solution→7 nm omega-like phase→AlNd3+hexagonal Nd. The activation energies for the first and second transformation were found to be 100 kJ/mol and 188 kJ/mol, respectively. The formation mechanism of nanoscale omega-like phase is discussed.

Key words: Melt-spun Nd85Al15 alloy, Omega-like phase, Transformation kinetics