Elaboration of Bulk Metallic Glasses by Powder Densification Using Spark Plasma Sintering

摘要

Bulk metallic glasses are usually directly prepared by rapid cooling from the melt. However, for some compositions, amorphous materials can be produced only with a limited size. Therefore another solution to produce large specimen is to get first amorphous powders and then to densify these powders. Different processes have been used to densify, for instance recently by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The present paper addresses the influence of the processing conditions on the densification and mechanical properties of a Cu_(51.6)-Zr_(43.0)-Al_(5.4) (at.%) bulk metallic glass obtained by SPS. Influence of experimental parameters has been studied: sintering time and temperature, applied pressure, size of the sample. The conditions to obtain a dense, amorphous and hard specimen have been determined. After optimization, a fully dense sample with a diameter of 30mm has been obtained with a hardness HV_(0.3) = 535. In conclusion, this processing shows great potential for various applications in manufacturing bulk metallic glasses.