Bulk Metallic Glass

Amorphous alloys were first developed over 40 years ago and found applications as magnetic core or reinforcement added to other materials. The scope of applications is limited due to the small thickness in the region of only tens of microns. The research effort in the past two ...

The recent development of metallic glass-matrix composites represents a particular milestone in engineering materials for structural applications owing to their remarkable combination of strength and toughness. However, metallic glasses are highly susceptible to cyclic fatigue damage, and previous attempts to solve this problem have been largely disappointing. Here, we propose and demonstrate a microstructural design strategy to overcome this limitation by matching the microstructural length scales (of the second phase) to mechanical crack-length scales. Specifically, semisolid processing is used to optimize the volume fraction, morphology, and size of second-phase dendrites to confine any initial deformation (shear banding) to the glassy regions separating dendrite arms having length scales of approximately 2 mum, i.e., to less than the critical crack size for failure. Confinement of the damage to such interdendritic regions results in enhancement of fatigue lifetimes and increases...

In the present study a new insert design is presented and validated to enable reliable dynamic mechanical characterization of low strain-to-failure materials using the Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) apparatus. Finite element-based simulations are conducted to better understand the effects of stress concentrations on the dynamic behavior of LM-1, a Zr-based bulk metallic glass (BMG), using the conventional SHPB setup with cylindrical inserts, and two modified setups—one utilizing conical inserts and the other utilizing a “dogbone” shaped specimen. Based on the results of these computational experiments the ends of the dogbone specimen are replaced with high-strength maraging steel inserts. This new insert-specimen configuration is expected to prevent specimen failure outside the specimen gage section. Simulations are then performed to validate the new insert design. Moreover, high strain-rate uniaxial compression tests are conducted on LM-1 using the modified SHPB with the new inserts. An ultra-high-speed camera is employed to investigate the changes in failure behavior of the specimens. Additional experiments are conducted with strain gages directly attached to the gage section of the specimens to determine accurately their dynamic stress–strain behavior.

Fe-based bulk metallic glasses exhibit very high hardness, elastic modulus/limit and wear/corrosion resistance. In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to develop an amorphous coating with Fe48Cr15Mo14Y2C15B6 bulk metallic glass on AISI 4140 substrate by laser surface processing. Following coating, the microstructure and phase aggregate were analyzed by scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction, respectively. Microhardness and wear resistance were assessed using Vickers microhardness tester and ball-on-plate wear testing machine, respectively. The coating thickness varied directly with incident laser power and interaction time. Despite trials with wide range of process parameters, the present experiments were unable to retain complete amorphous surface microstructure after laser surface coating. Numerical prediction of the thermal profile and related parameters suggest that the cooling rate and thermal gradient experienced by the coated zone were fairly high. Yet failure to retain amorphous/glassy microstructure of an otherwise bulk metallic glassy alloy suggests that compositional changes (solute redistribution) within the coated zone and across the coating–substrate interface are responsible for nucleation and growth of crystalline phases from the melt. However, correlation between coating parameters and surface microstructure and properties allowed determination of the optimum conditions that ensured fine grained uniform microstructure with a significant improvement in hardness and wear resistance.