Iron-Silicon Alloys
Iron silicon alloys typically contain about 1.5% to 3.0%. Silicon is not pre-alloyed into iron to avoid the loss of compressibility. A master alloy of iron pre-alloyed with silicon, up to 33% is admixed with pure iron powder and the mixture sintered at 1260°C to achieve diffusion of silicon. The atmosphere generally used is 100% hydrogen. The benefit of this alloy system is shown below: