Coating behavior and surface hardening of Pd_(77)Cu_6Si_(17) thin film metallic glass on AZ31 magnesium alloy

Pd77Cu6Si17(PCS) thin film metallic glasses(TFMGs) with high glass forming ability and hardness were selected as a hard coating for improving the surface hardness of AZ31 magnesium alloy. Both microindentation and nanoindentation tests were conducted on specimens with various PCS film thicknesses from 30 to 2000 nm. The apparent hardness and the relative indentation depth(β) were integrated using a quantitative model. The interaction parameters involved and relative hardness values were extracted from iterative calculations. According to the results, surface hardness can be enhanced greatly by PCS TFMGs in the shallow region, followed by gradual decrease with increasing β ratio. In addition, specimens with thinner coatings(e.g., 200nm) showed greater substrate-film interaction and those with thick coatings(e.g., 2000nm) became prone to film cracking. The optimum TFMG coating thickness in this study was estimated to be around 200 nm.

Role of late transition metals on pitting resistance of Zr-Ti-(Cu, Ni,Co)-Al bulk metallic glasses in 0.6 M NaCl aqueous solution

Four quanternary Zr-based bulk metallic glasses（BMGs）were selected,including the Zr_（46）Ti_2Cu_（45）Al_7,Zr_（61）Ti_2Cu_（25）Al_（12）,Zr_（55）Ti_4Ni_（22）Al_（19）and Zr_（55）Ti_2Co_（28）Al_（15）,due to their robust glass-forming ability and containing a single species of late transition metal（LTM）in compositions.Their pitting resistances in 0.6 M Na Cl aqueous solution were investigated to examine the role of LTM elements in the alloys,with electrochemical measurements,surface morphology observation and x-ray photoelectron spectrometry analysis.It is shown that in comparision with two Cu-bearing BMGs,Zr_（55）Ti_4Ni_（22）Al_（19）and Zr_（55）Ti_2Co_（28）Al_（15）BMGs exhibited significantly superior resistance to pitting.Zr_（61）Ti_2Cu_（25）Al_（12）,Zr_（55）Ti_4Ni_（22）Al_（19）and Zr_（55）Ti_2Co_（28）Al_（15）BMGs manifested distinct passivation behaviour,because of the formation of surface passive film mainly comprising of Zr O_2,Ti O_2and Al_2O_3.However,no significant differences in the electrochemical resistive properties and thicknesses of passive films were found between Zr_（61）Ti_2Cu_（25）Al_（12）and Zr_（55）Ti_4Ni_（22）Al_（19）BMGs.Nevertheless,at the passive film/metal interface,copper enrichment took place in Zr_（61）Ti_2Cu_（25）Al_（12）,whereas the nickel was slightly deficient at the interface in Zr_（55）Ti_4Ni_（22）Al_（19）.During pitting propagation,selective dissolution of the zirconium,titanium and aluminum over the copper took place in Zr_（61）Ti_2Cu_（25）Al_（12）,but it was not the case in Zr_（55）Ti_4Ni_（22）Al_（19）.For the two Cu-bearing BMGs,reduction of passive base metal elements in composition resulted in local selective dissolution,even absence of the passivation.

Tailoring mechanical heterogeneity,nanoscale creep deformation and optical properties of nanostructured Zr-based metallic glass

Metallic glasses are spatially heterogeneous at the nanometer scale.However,the effects of external excitation on their structural and mechanical heterogeneity and the correlation to their properties are still unresolved.Nanoindentation,atomic force microscopy(AFM) and high-resolution transmis sion elec tron micro scopy(HRTEM) were carried out to explore the effects of cryogenic thermal cycling(CTC) on mechanical/structural heterogeneity,nano sc ale creep deformation and optical properties of nano structured metallic glass thin films(MGTFs).The results indicate that CTC treatment alters the distribution fluctuations of hardness/modulus and energy dissipation and results in an increase-then-decrease variation in mechanical heterogeneity.By applying Maxwell-Voigt model,it can be shown that CTC treatment results in a remarkable activation of more defects with longer relaxation time in soft regions but has only a slight effect on defects in hard regions.In addition,CTC treatment increases the transition time from primary-state stage to steady-state stage during creep deformation.The enhanced optical reflectivity of the MGTFs after 15 thermal cycles can be attributed to increased aggregation of Cu and Ni elements.The results of this study shed new light on understanding mechanical/structural heterogeneity and its influence on nanoscale creep deformation and optical characteristics of nanostructured MGTFs,and facilitate the design of high-performance nanostructured MGTFs.

Self-assembling nacre-like high-strength and extremely tough polymer composites with new toughening mechanism

Achieving high strength,deformability and toughness in polymers is important for practical industrial applications.This has remained challenging because of the mutually opposing effects of improvements to each of these properties.Here,a self-assembling nacre-like polymer composite is designed to achieve ex-tremely tough with increasing strength.This special design significantly improved polymer’s mechanical properties,including an ultra-high fracture strain of 1180%,a tensile strength of 55.4 MPa and a toughness of 506.9 MJ/m^(3),which far exceed the highest values previously reported for polymer composites.This ex-cellent combination of properties can be attributed to a novel toughening mechanism,achieved by the synergy of the domain-limiting effect of metallic glass fragments with the strain-gradient-induced orien-tation and crystallisation within the polymer during stretching.Our approach opens a promising avenue for designing robust polymer materials in armour and aerospace engineering for a range of innovative applications.