Bulk metallic glass composites

One way to adjust the properties of a material is by changing its microstructure. This concept is not easily applicable on bulk metallic glasses (BMGs), because they do not consist of grains or different phases and so their microstructure is very homogeneous. One obvious way to integrate inhomogeneities is to produce bulk metallic glass composites (BMGCs). Here we show how to generate BMGCs via high-pressure torsion (HPT) starting from powders (amorphous Zr-MG and crystalline Cu). This approach has been developed in partnership with the Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science in Leoben, Austria, and demonstrated that by changing the applied shear strains, the refinement of the microstructure is adjustable. The refinement of microstructure increases the hardness and a hardness higher than the initial BMG can be obtained.

From powders to bulk metallic glass composites
Lisa Krämer, Yannick Champion, Rienhard Pipan, Scientific Reports (2017)
DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-06424-4