Effects of crystallization fractions on mechanical properties of Zr-based metallic glass matrix composites

摘要

The Zr41Ti14Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 (at.%) bulk metallic glass composites with various crystallization fractions were prepared by pretreating the bulk metallic glassy samples with pulsing current, and then by isothermal annealing at near initial crystallization temperature for different periods of time. The precipitations and crystallization fractions were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and their effects on mechanical properties of the composite were studied by microhardness, uniaxial compression test and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The experimental results show that the primary precipitate is quasicrystalline phase and other metastable phases including Be2Zr, Zr2Cu and FCC would precipitate subsequently. In the initial crystallization process, in which the crystallization fraction increases from 0 to 8.2%, both fracture strength and plastic strain increase, with the maximum plastic strain up to 6.4%. When the crystallization fraction is larger than 8.2%, the fracture strength and the plastic strain decrease sharply. Furthermore, the alloy with low crystallization fraction is fractured by shearing, while for high crystallization fraction it is fractured by splitting and cleavage. The results show that the mechanical properties of the glassy alloy could be optimized by controlling the processing parameters.