Oxidation stabilization of ZrFe alloys in nitrogen gas atmosphere

A porous ZrFe alloy specimen was prepared as a 6 × 3 mm (diameter × thickness) disk. The reaction of the ZrFe alloy was confirmed while the whole system was maintained at a target temperature, which was increased from 150 ^oC to 950 ^oC in a 99.999% low purity nitrogen atmosphere, consisting of 10 ppm of impurity gas. Surface color, pore size, stabilized layer, and phase change were confirmed with optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Micro-Raman, according to temperature. The surface color of the ZrFe alloy changed from metallic silver to dark gray as the temperature increased. In the EDS and XPS results, nitrogen component was not observed, and oxygen content increased on each surface at the elevated temperatures. In this way, the ZrFe alloy was stabilized in a low purity nitrogen atmosphere, preventing rapid nitride reactions.