Reply to: Comment on Grain boundary structure and magnetic behavior in nanocrystalline ball-milled iron’

In their Comment Balogh et al. criticize our paper [Phys. Rev. B 56, 8894 (1997)] dealing with nanocrystalline Fe synthesized through ball milling by varying the duration of the milling process (2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 h) so to obtain powder with different mean grain size, in the 8–25 nm range. Balogh et al. suggest that it is possible to explain some features of the Mössbauer spectra of these powders, shown in the original paper, by impurities instead of the presence of a grain-boundary region among the crystallites. In particular, they claim that 0.3–0.5 at. % Cr, deriving from the milling process, is present in the sample milled for the longest time. In this reply, we discuss energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy results demonstrating the absence of Cr, at least in an amount higher than 0.1 at. %. Moreover, we contest the statement that steel milling tools necessarily introduce significant levels of Cr impurity into the milled materials. Finally, we explain how the presence of an amount less than 0.1 at. % Cr in the 32 h milled Fe sample would not affect our previous conclusions.