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Heusler alloys constitute an interesting group of materials with wide applications. The
purpose of the present study was to use the mechanical alloying method to synthesize Fe2CrSi
Heusler alloy and learn about its structure and magnetic properties. Pure metal elements were
ground for various periods of time in a planetary ball mill, and the process of alloy formation was
monitored using X-ray diffraction and Mössbauer spectroscopy. It was found that after 20 h of milling,
the disordered BCC solid solution was formed, with an average crystallite size ~11 nm. After thermal
treatment, the desired Fe2CrSi Heusler alloy was obtained, with a small amount of secondary phases.
Detailed XRD analysis showed the coexistence of two varieties of Heusler phase, namely Fm-3m
and Pm-3n. The main result of this work is the detection of the hyperfine magnetic field distribution
using Mössbauer spectroscopy. The occurrence of this distribution proves atomic disorder in the
crystalline structure of the obtained Heusler alloy. Macroscopic magnetic measurements revealed
soft magnetic properties of the alloy, with a magnetic moment of ~2.3 μB/f.u., only slightly larger
than the theoretically predicted value.
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