Intermetallic compound and method of manufacturing the same

Abstract

A porous intermetallic compound (B2-type FeAl) is obtained by rapidly solidifying and cooling down a molten alloy with an extremely large number of thermal vacancies and by heating the solidified and cooled alloy at temperature within the range of 400 to 450 degrees centigrade to transform the thermal vacancies into micro pores of nanometer order in size.

What is claimed is,  
     
         1 . An intermetallic compound, characterized in that a lot of micro pores of nanometer order in size are uniformly distributed.  
     
     
         2 . The intermetallic compound according to  claim 1 , wherein the said intermetallic compound is produced by: 
 rapidly solidifying and cooling a molten alloy consisting of one or more kinds of metal elements and/or one or more kinds of semimetal elements; and    subjecting the rapidly solidified alloy to a beat treatment within a predetermined temperature range.    
     
     
         3 . The intermetallic compound according to  claim 2 , wherein the said molten alloy has a composition corresponding to B2-type FeAl, B2-type NiAl, B2-type CoAl, B2-type AgMg, B2-type AuCd, B2-type CoFe., B2-type CoTi, B2-type FeTi, Or B2-type CuZn.  
     
     
         4 . The intermetallic compound according to  claim 3 , the said micro pores have a pore size set to a value within the range of several to several hundreds nanometers.  
     
     
         5 . The intermetallic compound according to  claim 3 , the said micro pores have a pore size set to a value within the range of several tens to several hundreds nanometers.  
     
     
         6 . The intermetallic compound according to  claim 3 , wherein the said molten alloy is B2-type FeAl, and the said micro pores have a pore density therein set to a value within the range of 10 19  to 10 21  m 3 .  
     
     
         7 . A method of manufacturing an intermetallic compound having a lot of micro pores of nanometer order in size distributed uniformly, comprising the steps of: 
 rapidly solidifying a molten alloy consisting of one or more kinds of metal elements and/or one or more kinds of semimetal elements; and    subjecting the rapidly solidified alloy to a beat treatment within a predetermined temperature range to form and uniformly distribute a lot of micro pores of nanometer order in size in the alloy.    
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein the said heat treatment is done in vacuum or reduced pressure or in an atmosphere of one or more inert gases.  
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein the said molten alloy has a composition corresponding to B2-type FeAl, B2-type NiAl, B-2-type CoAl. B2-type AgMg, B2-type AuCd, B2-type CoFe, B2-type CoTi, B2-type FeTi, or B2-type CuZn.  
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 7 , wherein the said molten alloy is B2-type FeAl, and the said heat treatment is conducted at a temperature within the range of 400 to 450 degrees centigrade.