“Glass-quake”in elastically loaded bulk metallic glasses

Amorphous solids exhibit scale-free avalanches,even under small external loading,and thus can work as suitable systems to study critical behavior and universality classes.The abundance of scale-free avalanches in the entire elastic tension regime of bulk metallic glass(BMG)samples has been experimentally observed using acoustic emission(AE)measurements.In this work,we compare the statistics of avalanches with those of earthquakes,and find that they both follow the Gutenberg–Richter law in the statistics of energies and Omori’s law of aftershock rates,and share the same characteristics in the distribution of recurrence times.These resemblances encourage us to propose the term“glass-quake”to describe avalanches in elastically loaded BMGs.Furthermore,our work echoes the potential universality of critical behavior in disordered physical systems from atomic to planetary scales,and motivates the use of elastic loaded BMGs as valuable laboratory simulators of seismic dynamics.

Electrochemical corrosion properties of Zr- and Ti-based bulk metallic glasses

The corrosion behaviors of Ti-based and Zr-based amorphous alloys and their corresponding crystallized alloys were studied by electrochemical methods. It is found that the corrosion potentials of Zr-based amorphous alloy and its corresponding crystalline counterpart are both lower than those of the Ti-based amorphous alloy in the 1 mol/L H2SO4 solution. In the 3.5% NaCl solution,Zr-based crystallized alloy exhibits the lowest corrosion potential among the experimental samples. No passivation is observed in the corrosion process for the Zr-based crystalline alloy. However, Zr- and Ti-based amorphous alloys both exhibit passivation characteristics. EIS measurements indicate the amorphous alloys exhibit better corrosion resistance than the crystallized one in the NaCl solution. Surface analysis shows that both amorphous alloys in the NaCl solution are eroded by pitting corrosion. In the H2SO4 solution, all the alloys display similar behaviors and their surfaces can mostly keep intact except for some cracks on the corroded surface at local region.

Effects of aspect ratio and loading rate on room-temperature mechanical properties of Cu-based bulk metallic glasses

Room-temperature mechanical properties of Cu50Zr40Ti10-xNix（0≤x≤4,mole fraction,%） bulk metallic glasses （BMG） with aspect ratios in the range of 1：1-2.5：1 and loading rates in the range of1×10^-5-1×10^-2s^-1were systematically investigated by room-temperatureuniaxialcompression test.In the condition of an aspect ratio of 1：1, the superplasticity can be clearly observed for Cu50Zr40Ti10BMG when the loading rate is1×10^-4s^-1, while for Cu50Zr40Ti10-xNix（x=1-3, mole fraction, %） BMGs when the loading rate is1×10^-2s^-1. The plastic strain （εp）, yielding strength （σy） and fracture strength （σf） of the studied Cu-based BMGs significantly depend on the aspect ratio and the loading rate. In addition, theσyof the studied Cu-based BMGs with an aspect ratio of 1：1 is close to the σfof those with the other aspect ratios when the loading rate is1×10^-2s^-1. The mechanism for the mechanical response to the loading rate and the aspect ratiowas also discussed.

Effect of Ti on microstructure,mechanical and corrosion properties of (Zr_(0.55)Al_(0.1)Ni_(0.05)Cu_(0.3))_(100-x)Ti_x bulk metallic glasses

The（Zr_（0.55）Al_（0.1）Ni_（0.05）Cu_（0.3））_（100-x）Ti_x alloys were prepared using an in-situ suck-casting method in a copper mold. The effects of Ti addition on the microstructure, mechanical and corrosion properties of the（Zr_（0.55）Al_（0.1）Ni_（0.05）Cu_（0.3））_（100-x）Ti_x alloys were investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, compressive tests and corrosion tests. It has been found that the addition of Ti higher than 4%（mole fraction） causes the formation of many crystalline phases in the alloy. The alloys with 1%-3% Ti display an obvious yield stage on their compressive stress-strain curves. An appropriate addition of Ti can improve the strength and ductility of the alloys. All the alloys have high corrosion resistance in 1 mol/L Na OH solution, and are corroded in 1 mol/L HCl solution. However, the appropriate addition of Ti can significantly improve the corrosion resistance of the alloys in HCl solution.

Preparation and properties of novel Cu-based bulk metallic glasses Cu_(55-x)Zr_(37)Ti_8In_x

The glassy rods were successfully fabricated in the Cu-Zr-Ti-In alloy system by casting into a copper mold. The value of ATx reaches a maximum of 66 K for the BMG CusoZraTTi8In5 alloy. The reasons for enhancing glass forming ability of Cu-based BMGs with the addition of indium were discussed from atomic size and thermodynamics. Alternatively, the BMG Cu52Zra7Ti8In3 exhibits the highest compressive strength （1981 MPa） and the best plasticity among glassy Cu55-xZra7TisInx （x_〈5）. The total plastic deformation of Cu52Zr37TisIn3 before fracture approaches 1.2%.

Transition of plasticity and fracture mode of Zr-Al-Ni-Cu bulk metallic glasses with network structures

Effect of network structure on plasticity and fracture mode of Zr？Al？Ni？Cu bulk metallic glasses （BMGs） was investigated. The microstructures of transversal and longitudinal sections were exposed by chemical etching and observed by scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. The mechanical properties were examined by room-temperature uniaxial compression test. The results show that both plasticity and fracture mode are significantly affected by the network structure and the alteration occurs when the size of the network structure reaches up to a critical value. When the cell size （dc） of the network structure is ~3μm, Zr-based BMGs characterize in plasticity that decreases with increasingdc. The fracture mode gradually transforms from single 45° shear fracture to double 45° shear fracture and then cleavage fracture with increasingdc. In addition, the mechanisms of the transition of the plasticity and the fracture mode for these Zr-based BMGs are also discussed.

Formation, Structure and Properties of Bulk Metallic Glasses

Bulk metallic glasses with up to 72 mm critical section thickness have been obtained by conventional casting techniques and the properties of these materials, particularly the mechanical and magnetic properties have been studied. These materials have been demonstrated to have novel properties which are fundamentally different from their crystalline counterparts. The recent status of research and development in formation, structure and properties of bulk metallic glasses is reviewed. The techniques to produce such bulk glasses are summarized and the glass forming ability and the critical cooling rate of these materials are discussed. Further consideration of the development and application of this new class of materiaIs will be proposed.

Design of high strength Fe-(P,C)-based bulk metallic glasses with Nb addition

Bulk metallic glass（BMG） rods Fe71Mo5-xNbxP12C10B2（x=1,2,3,4 and 5） with diameter of 1 or 2 mm were synthesized by copper mold casting.The effects of Nb substitution for Mo on the structure,thermal and mechanical properties of Fe71Mo5-xNbxP12C10B2 alloys were studied by X-ray diffraction,differential scanning calorimetry and compressive testing.The results show that the substitution of Nb for Mo leads to a decreased glass forming ability,but with plasticity of 1.0%,the fracture strength of Fe71Mo2Nb3P12C10B2 alloy increases up to 4.0 GPa.The improvement of the fracture strength is discussed in terms of the enhancement of atomic bonding nature and the favorite formation of a network-like structure due to the substitution of Nb for Mo.

Formation and corrosion properties of Fe-based bulk metallic glasses

Bulk metallic glass （BMG） formation was explored in the Fe-B-Si-Nb alloy system though combined use of the atomic cluster line approach and the minor alloying strategy. The basic ternary compositions in the Fe-B-Si system were determined by the intersection points of two cluster lines, namely, Fe-B cluster to Si and Fe-Si cluster to B. 3at% -4at% Nb was added to the quaternary Fe-B-Si-Nb alloy. The casting experiments revealed that good glass-forming ability （GFA） occurred at the （Fe73.4Si8.2B18.4）96Nb4 composition, and 3-mm diameter BMG samples were made. The glass transition temperature （Tg）, crystallization temperature （Tx）, and supercooled liquid region （△Tx=Tx-Tg） of this BMG were measured to be 866, 889, and 23 K, respectively. The BMG shows a high Vickers hardness of about Hv 1164, a Young＇s modulus of 180 GPa, and a good corrosion resistance in the solutions of 1 mol/L HCl and 3wt% NaCl.

Preparation and Mechanical Properties of Misch Metal Based Bulk Metallic Glasses

The formation, thermal stability and mechanical properties of Misch metal （Mm）-based alloy bulk metallic glasses （BMGs） with composition of Mm55Al25Cu10Ni5Co5 were investigated by means of X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, differential thermal analysis and compression test. The results indicate that the Mm-based BMGs exhibit a distinct glass transition and a wide supercooled liquid region Δ Tx（ 〉 60 K） before crystallization. The alloy can be fabricated into bulk glassy form of 3 mm in diameter by copper mold casting methods. Compared with the La55Al25Cu10 Ni5Co5 BMG, the Mm55Al25Cu10Ni5Co5 BMG shows higher compression fracture strength and lower cost. A new parameter γ and melting temperature Tl are closely correlated with the glass forming ability （GFA） of Mm-based alloys.

Bulk metallic glasses formed by alloying the Cu_6Zr_5 cluster

The bulk metallic glass formation in the Cu-Zr-M ternary systems by alloying of a binary basic Cu6Zr5 cluster was inves- tigated, where M stands for Sn, Mo, Ta, Nb, Ag, Al and Ti. The Cu6Zr5 cluster is a capped Archimedean antiprism that characterizes the local structure of the Cu10Zr7 crystalline phase. This cluster composition almost superposes with Cu-Zr eutectic Cu0.56Zr0.44. A se- ries of alloys along the cluster line (Cu6Zr5)1-xMx were examined for their glass forming abilities. Alloy rods with a diameter of 3 mm were prepared by copper mould suction casting method and analyzed by XRD and thermal analysis. The Cu-Zr based bulk metallic glasses were discovered with minor Nb, Sn, Mo, Ta additions (≤2at%) and Al, Ti, Ag (8at%≤concentration≤9at%). The alloying mechanism was discussed in the light of atomic size, cluster-linking structure and electron concentration factors.

Crystallization Kinetics of Misch Metal Based Bulk Metallic Glasses

The crystallization kinetics of Mm55Al25Cu10Ni5Co5 bulk metallic glass （BMG） was investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry （DSC） in the mode of continuous heating or isothermal annealing. It was found that the apparent activation energy Eg, Ex and Ep of the BMG calculated by Kissinger＇s method were 189.58, 170.68 and 170.41 kJ·mol^-1, respectively, which was bigger than those of La55Al25Cu10Ni5Co5 BMG indicating that thermal stability of the former was higher than that of the latter. The local activation energy obtained using Ozawa equation decreased as crystallization proceeded except for the initial stage. The Avrami exponents were calculated to be in the range of 3.26 - 5.23 for different crystallization stages and isothermal temperatures. This implied that crystallization of Mm55Al25Cu10Ni5Co2 BMG was governed by diffusion-controlled three-dimensional growth with either reduced or increased nucleation rate, depending on isothermal temperature. Inconsistency of thermal stability with glass-forming ability for Mm（La）-Al-Cu-Ni-Co BMGs was discussed.

Glass formation of ternary Sm-based Sm-Al-Co bulk metallic glasses

Ternary Sm-based Sm-Al-Co alloys at specific compositions designed using an e/a- and cluster-related criteria exhibit high glass forming abilities and form bulk glassy rods of 3 mm in diameter by a copper mold suction-casting method. Four composi- tions of bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) are Sm50Al25Co25, Sm52Al24Co24, Sm54Al23Co23 and Sm56Al22Co22, which all satisfy a constant conduction electron concentration of 1.5. Among them, the BMG exhibiting the largest reduced glass transition temperature (Trg) is Sm50Al25Co25, which reaches 0.648. The glass transition temperature Tg and the onset crystallization temperature Tx of this alloy are respectively 579 and 640 K at a heating rate of 20 K/min.

Crystallization mechanism of CeAlFeCo bulk metallic glasses

Crystallization behaviors of Ce60Al15Fe5+xCo20-x(x=0,5,10) bulk metallic glasses(BMGs) were studied by means of differential scanning calorimeter(DSC) and X-ray diffraction(XRD).The crystallization processes of different samples were simulated by JMA equation.Experimental results demonstrated that incubation and crystallization time increased with decreasing isothermal temperature for the same sample.The crystallization mechanism of CeAlFeCo BMGs was discussed.

Modeling of Microimprinting of Bulk Metallic Glasses

A finite element analysis （FEA） model has been developed to analyze microimprinting of bulk metallic glasses （BMG） near the glass transition temperature （Tg）. The results reveal an approximately universal imprinting response for BMG, independent of surface feature length scale. The scale-independent nature of BMG imprinting derives from the flow characteristics of BMG in the temperature range above Tg. It also shows that the lubrication condition has a mild influence on BMG imprinting in the temperature range above Tg.

Mechanical behavior of Cu-Zr bulk metallic glasses (BMGs): A molecular dynamics approach

In the present work, three-dimensional molecular dynamics simulation is carried out to elucidate the nanoinden- tation behaviors of CuZr Bulk metallic glasses （BMGs）. The substrate indenter system is modeled using hybrid interatomic potentials including both many-body Finnis Sinclair （FS） and two-body Morse potentials. A spherical rigid indenter （diameter= 60 A（1 A = 10 ^-10 m）） is employed to simulate the indentation process. Three samples of BMGs including Cu25Zr75, CusoZr50, and Cu75Zr25 are designed and the metallic glasses are formed by rapid cooling from the melt state at about 2000 K. The radial distribution functions are analyzed to reveal the dynamical evolution of the structure of the atoms with different compositions and different cooling rates. The mechanical behavior can be well understood in terms of load-depth curves and Hardness-depth curves during the nanoindentation process. Our results indicate a positive linear relationship between the hardness and the Cu concentration of the BMG sample. To reveal the importance of cooling rate provided during the processing of BMGs, we investigate the indentation behaviors of CusoZr50 at three different quenching rates. Nanoindentation results and radial distribution function （RDF） curves at room temperature indicate that a sample can be made harder and more stable by slowing down the quenching rate.

A cluster line approach to finding new Fe-B-Y-Nb-Zr bulk metallic glasses

The glass forming ability of the [(Fe12/13Y1/13)100?xBx]96Nb2Zr2 (x=9–26) system was investigated using a series of cluster lines. Three types of clusters, an icosahedron (Fe12Y), a capped Archimedes anti-prism (Fe8B3) and a capped trigonal prism (Fe9B), as well as a binary eutectic (Fe83B17) were considered. Bulk glassy alloy rods of 3 mm in diameter were synthesized using a copper mold suction-casting method. The glass transition temperature was observed for all samples in the boron range of 15.9at%-25.7at%, with the alloy at 15.9at% of boron having the best thermal properties. The ferrous-based bulk metallic glasses (BMG) obtained have high reduced glass transition temperatures with the maximum reaching 0.63 and large supercooled liquid regions with the maximum reaching 111 K. Magnetic testing revealed a large value of coercive force and remanent magnetization, being 11 kA/m and 0.1 T, re- spectively.

Compositional dependence of thermal and elastic properties of Cu-Ti-Zr-Ni bulk metallic glasses

Starting from the quaternary Cu47Ti34Zr11Ni8 alloy, the compositional dependence of thermal and elastic properties of Cu-Ti-Zr-Ni alloys was systematically investigated. Quaternary Cu-Ti-Zr-Ni alloys can be cast directly from the melt into copper molds to form fully amorphous strips or rods with the thickness of 3-6 mm. The evidence of the amorphous nature of the cast rods was provided by X-ray spectra. The measured glass transition temperature （Tg） and crystallization temperature （Tx） were obtained for the alloys using differential scanning calorimetry （DSC） at the heating rate of 20 K/s. In the results, the differences between the glass temperature and the crystallization temperature （△Tx=Tx-Tg） are measured with values ranging up to 33-55 K. The reduced glass transition temperature （Trg）, which is the ratio of the glass temperature to the liquidus temperature （T3, is often used as an indication of the glass-forming ability of metallic alloys. For the present Cu-Ti-Zr-Ni alloys, this ratio is typically in the range of 0.5838-0.5959, characteristic of metallic alloys with good glass-forming ability. The elastic constants for several selected alloys were measured using ultrasonic methods. The values of the elastic shear modulus, bulk modulus, and Poisson＇s ratio were also given.

Bulk Metallic Glasses in Sm-Cu-Ni-Al Alloy Systems

A new series of Sm-Cu-Ni-Al bulk metallic glasses were prepared by suction casting. Their glass-forming ability and thermal stability were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results of DSC indicate that the alloy components strongly affect the widths of supercooled liquid region (ΔT_x=T_x-T_g onset). The widths of supercooled liquid region for Sm_ 70-xCu_xNi_ 10Al_ 20 (x=12.5, 15.0, 17.5), Sm_ 65-xCu_ 15Ni_xAl_ 20 (x=8, 10, 12) and Sm_ 75-xCu_ 15Ni_ 10Al_x (x=15, 20, 25) increase first and then decrease with the increase of x atomic fraction. And Sm_ 55Cu_ 15Ni_ 10Al_ 20 alloy was found to be with the largest width and it can be cast into bulk metallic glass with up to 3 mm in diameter. The glass-forming ability of the alloys was explained in terms of Miedema′s theory, electronegativity difference and atomic size parameter of the amorphous alloys.

Effect of Friction Stir Welding on Bulk Metallic Glasses

In order to enlarge the size of bulk metallic glasses(BMGs),two Cu_(36)Zr_(48)Al_(8)Ag_(8) BMGs plates were successfully welded by friction stir welding(FSW)without obvious crystallization.The effect of friction stir welding on microstructure and mechanical properties of the BMGs was investigated.X-ray diffraction(XRD)and scanning electron microscope(SEM)were used to evaluate the changes of the crystalline particles in the BMGs.Nanoindentation was applied to analyze the changes of the amorphous matrix.Micro-hardness of the stir zone before and after FSW was tested to explore changes of the mechanical properties.Results show that the original Al3Zr particles in the BMGs were refined and some cavities parallel to the rotating direction of the pin were observed in the amorphous matrix after FSW.Furthermore,micro-hardness of the stirred zone rises approximately 50 Hv compared with the as-cast sample due to structure relaxation of the amorphous matrix.