Phase Formation of Iron-Based Superconductors during Mechanical Alloying.

We successfully synthesized bulk Ba0.6Na0.4Fe2As2 and Sr0.5Na0.5Fe2As2 compounds by high-energy mechanical alloying (MA) technique. The MA process results in homogeneous amorphous phases of BaFe2As2 and SrFe2As2. It was found that the optimum time for high-energy milling in all cases is about 1.5-2 h, and the maximum amount of amorphous phase could be obtained when energy of 50-100 MJ/kg was absorbed by the powder. After a short-term heat treatment, we obtained nearly optimum sodium-doped Ba1-xNaxFe2As2 and Sr1-xNaxFe2As2 superconducting bulk samples. Therefore, MA is a potential scalable method to produce bulk superconducting material for industrial needs.