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 decades, mainly pioneered by a Japanese- and a US-group of scientists, has substantially relaxed this size constrain. Some bulk metallic glasses can have tensile strength up to 3000 MPa with good corrosion resistance, reasonable toughness, low internal friction and good processability. Bulk metallic glasses are now being used in consumer electronic industries, sporting goods industries, etc. In this paper, the authors reviewed the recent development of new alloy systems of bulk metallic glasses. The properties and processing technologies relevant to the industrial applications of these alloys are also discussed here. The behaviors of bulk metallic glasses under extreme conditions such as high pressure and low temperature are especially addressed in this review. In order that the scope of applications can be broadened, the understanding of the glass-forming criteria is important for the design of new alloy systems and also the processing techniques.

https://www.tcd.ie/Physics/people/Graham.Cross/SF%20Poster%202011/Shek-MaterSciEng04-Bulk%20Metallic%20Glasses.pdf

Bulk metallic glasses

The elastic properties, elastic models and elastic perspectives of metallic glasses

In contrast to the poor plasticity that is usually observed in bulk metallic glasses, super plasticity is achieved at room temperature in ZrCuNiAl synthesized through the appropriate choice of its composition by controlling elastic moduli. Microstructures analysis indicates that the super plastic bulk metallic glasses are composed of hard regions surrounded by soft regions, which enable the glasses to undergo true strain of more than 160%. This finding is suggestive of a solution to the problem of brittleness in, and has implications for understanding the deformation mechanism of, metallic glasses.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/315/5817/1385.full.pdf

Super Plastic Bulk Metallic Glasses at Room Temperature

In this review, we report on the formation of a variety of novel, metallic, glassy materials that might well have applications as functional materials. The metallic glasses with excellent glass-forming ability, display many fascinating properties and features such as excellent wave-absoption ability, exceptionally low glass-transition temperatures (similar to 35-60 degrees C) approaching room temperature, ultralow elastic moduli comparable to that of human bone, high elasticity and high strength,superplasticity and poly-mer-like thermoplastic formability near room temperature an excellent magnetocaloric effect, hard magnetism and tunable magnetic properties, heavy-fermion behavior, superhydrophobicity and superoleophobicity, and polyamorphism, all of which are of interest not only for basic research but also for technological applications. A strategy based on elastic moduli correlations for fabrication of bulk metallic, glasses (BMCs) with controllable properties is presented. The work has implications in the search for novel metallic glasses with unique functional properties, for ad g our understanding of the nature and formation of glasses, and for extending the applications of the materials.

Bulk Metallic Glasses with Functional Physical Properties

By utilizing ultrasonic annealing at a temperature below (or near) the glass transition temperature Tg, we revealed a microstructural pattern of a partially crystallized Pd-based metallic glass with a high-resolution electron microscopy. On the basis of the observed microstructure, we inferred a plausible microstructural model of fragile metallic glasses composed of strongly bonded regions surrounded by weakly bonded regions (WBRs). The crystallization in WBRs at such a low temperature under the ultrasonic vibrations is caused by accumulation of atomic jumps associated with the beta relaxation being resonant with the ultrasonic strains. This microstructural model successfully illustrates a marked increase of elasticity after crystallization with a small density change and a correlation between the fragility of the liquid and the Poisson ratio of the solid.

/pdf/microstructure-of-fragile-metallic-glasses-inferred-from-3x2cex2jv6.pdf

Microstructure of Fragile Metallic Glasses Inferred from Ultrasound-Accelerated Crystallization in Pd-Based Metallic Glasses

Acoustic velocities of Pd39Ni10Cu30P21 bulk metallic glass (BMG) are measured by an ultrasonic technique upon annealing. The elastic constants and the Debye temperature are obtained. A large softening of the transverse phonon is exhibited in the as-quenched BMG relative to its crystallized state. Upon crystallization, the shear modulus and the Debye temperature increase by ∼30% and ∼12%, respectively; however, the density increases by only ∼0.6%. Some anomalous acoustic and elastic behaviors are observed near the glass transition temperature and in the supercooled liquid region of the BMG. The anomalies are explained with regard to the structural changes.

Z. J. Zhan

Papers

Ultrasonic investigation of Pd39Ni10Cu30P21 bulk metallic glass upon crystallization