Potentiodynamic polarization studies on amorphous Zr46.75Ti8.25Cu7.5Ni10Be27.5, Zr65Cu17.5Ni10Al7.5, Zr67Ni33 and Ti60Ni40 in aqueous HNO3 solutions

Potentiodynamic polarization studies were carried out on virgin specimens of Zr-based bulk amorphous alloys Zr_46.75Ti_8.25Cu_7.5Ni₁₀Be_27.5 and Zr₆₅Cu_17.5Ni₁₀Al_7.5, and conventional-type binary amorphous alloys Zr₆₇Ni₃₃ and Ti₆₀Ni₄₀ in solutions of 0.2 M, 0.5 M and 1.0 M HNO₃ at room temperature. The values of the corrosion current density (I_corr) for the bulk amorphous alloy Zr_46.75Ti_8.25Cu_7.5Ni₁₀Be_27.5 were found to be comparable with those of Zr₆₅Cu_17.5Ni₁₀Al_7.5 in 0.2 M and 0.5 M HNO₃, but the value of I_corr for the former was almost three times more than that of the latter in 1.0 M HNO₃. In the case of conventional binary amorphous alloys, Ti₆₀Ni₄₀ showed lower value of I_corr as compared to Zr₆₇Ni₃₃ in 0.5 M and 1.0 M HNO₃ and a comparable value of I_corr in 0.2 M HNO₃. In general, the binary Ti₆₀Ni₄₀ displayed the best corrosion resistance among all the alloys in all the cases and the corrosion current density (I_corr) for all the alloys was found to increase with the increasing concentration of nitric acid. It is noticed that the bulk amorphous alloys do not possess superior corrosion resistance as compared to conventional binary amorphous alloys in aqueous HNO₃ solutions. The observed differences in their corrosion behavior are attributed to different alloy constituents and composition of the alloys investigated.     

Synthesis and mechanical properties of Zr-based bulk amorphous alloys

Design and characterization of bulk amorphous alloys has been an active area of research due to their promising thermal and mechanical properties. An alloy composition Z₆₅Cu₁₇Ni₁₀Al₈ was designed and synthesized by Cu mold casting. In the base alloy 2 at.% Gd was added to study its effect on thermal and mechanical properties. Characterization of the alloys was done by techniques of X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). Many thermal parameters were evaluated to investigate the thermal stability and glass-forming ability of the alloys. In addition, the mechanical properties like nanohardness, elastic modulus and elastic recovery were measured. Thermal properties and activation energy reduced while mechanical properties like nanohardness, elastic modulus and percentage elastic recovery (% R) increased with Gd addition.     

Crystallization kinetics of (Ni0.75Fe0.25)78Si10B12 amorphous alloy

Amorphous ribbon specimen of (Ni_0.75Fe_0.25)₇₈Si₁₀B₁₂ has been prepared by a single roller melt-spinning technique in the air atmosphere. The crystallization kinetics of the alloy has been investigated using different thermal analysis by means of continuous heating and isothermal heating. The activation energy of the alloy has been calculated by using Kissinger plot method and Ozawa plot method based on differential thermal analysis data, respectively. The products of crystallization have been analyzed by X-ray diffraction. A single phase of γ-(Fe, Ni) solid solution with grain size of about 10.3 and 18.5 nm precipitates in the amorphous matrix after annealing at temperatures 715 and 745 K, respectively. The crystallized phases are γ-(Fe, Ni) solid solution, Fe₂Si, Ni₂Si, Fe₃B and unidentified phase after annealing at 765 K. The details of nucleation and growth during the isothermal crystallization are expatiated in terms of local Avrami exponent and local activation energy.     

Crystallization behavior of Zr41Ti14Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 bulk metallic glass under the action of high-density pulsing current

The crystallization behavior of Zr₄₁Ti₁₄Cu_12.5Ni₁₀Be_22.5 bulk metallic glass (Vit1 BMG) under the action of high-density pulsing current (HDPC) have been studied experimentally. It has been found that high-density pulsing current can directly induce the rapid nanocrystallization of Vit1 BMG. The multiple crystallization processes of Vit1 BMG induced by HDPC have been confirmed as Amorphous → Amorphous + i-phase → Be₂Zr + Zr₂Cu + Ni₇Zr₂ + FCC phase + other phases → Zr₂Cu + Ni₇Zr₂ + FCC phase + other phases. By comparing to the crystallization behavior of Vit1 BMG induced by isothermal annealing, the crystallization temperature is reduced and crystallizing process is significantly shortened, while the sequence of crystallization process in both cases is basically same. The present results show that the HDPC has significantly influenced the crystallizing kinetics of Vit1 BMG due to that it can greatly promote the movement and rearrangement of atoms, which will result in a rapid nanocrystallization. It suggests that HDPC treatment can be an effective way to induce the rapid nanocrystallization of BMGs.     

Structure and properties of Ni60(Nb100−xTax)34Sn6 bulk metallic glass alloys

Refractory bulk metallic glasses and bulk metallic glass composites are formed in quaternary Ni-Nb-Ta-Sn alloy system. Alloys of composition Ni₆₀(Nb_100−xTa_x)₃₄Sn₆ (x = 20, 40, 60, 80) alloys were prepared by injection-casting the molten alloys into copper molds. Glassy alloys are formed in the thickness of half mm strips. With thicker strips (e.g., 1 mm), Nb₂O₅ and Ni₃Sn phases and the amorphous phase form an in situ composite. Glass transition temperatures, crystallization temperatures, and ΔT_x, defined as T_x1 − T_g (T_x1: first crystallization temperature, T_g: glass transition temperature) of the alloys increase dramatically with increasing Ta contents. These refractory bulk amorphous alloys exhibit high Young’s modulus (155-170 GPa), shear modulus (56-63 GPa), and estimated yield strength (3-3.6 GPa).     

Distorted icosahedral Ni5Nb3Zr5 clusters in the as-quenched and hydrogenated amorphous (Ni0.6Nb0.4)0.65Zr0.35 alloys

Local structures of the hydrogenated (Ni_0.6Nb_0.4)_1-xZr_x (x = 0.3-0.4) amorphous alloys attract much attention for the sake of their epoch-making electronic transport behaviors. We investigated the local structures by XAFS for the as-quenched (Ni_0.6Nb_0.4)_0.65Zr_0.35 and hydrogenated [(Ni_0.6Nb_0.4)_0.65Zr_0.35]_0.922H_0.078 amorphous alloys, in which ballistic conductivity has been observed. XAFS results of the Ni K-edge are analyzed based on the structure model deduced by the first principle calculation. The analysis suggests that highly distorted icosahedral Ni₅Nb₃Zr₅ cluster, which has a centered-Ni and a surrounding Nb triangle, is a main structural unit of (Ni_0.6Nb_0.4)_0.65Zr_0.35 and the [(Ni_0.6Nb_0.4)_0.65Zr_0.35]_0.922H_0.078 amorphous alloys. This distorted icosahedral Ni₅Nb₃Zr₅ cluster can be associated with the occurrence of the singular electronic transport behaviors of the hydrogenated (Ni_0.6Nb_0.4)_0.65Zr_0.35 alloy.     

Isothermal and non-isothermal crystallization kinetics in amorphous Ni45.6Ti49.3Al5.1 thin films

The crystallization kinetics in Ni_45.6Ti_49.3Al_5.1 film were studied by differential scanning calorimetry through isothermal and non-isothermal approaches. The activation energy for crystallization was determined to be 374 and 280 kJ/mol by the Kissinger and the Augis & Bennett method, respectively, in non-isothermal methods. In the isothermal annealing study, the Avrami exponents were in the range of 2.78-3.80 between 793 and 823 K, suggesting that the isothermal annealing was governed by three dimensional diffusion-controlled growth for Ni_45.6Ti_49.3Al_5.1 thin films, in which the activation energy of nucleation is higher than that of growth. In addition, the transformation rate curves of Ni_45.6Ti_49.3Al_5.1 film were also constructed by isothermal methods. The crystallization kinetics of amorphous Ni_45.6Ti_49.3Al_5.1 film can thus be appreciated and the transformation rate also can be employed to control the degree of crystallization.     

Thermal stability of amorphous Mg50Ni50 alloy produced by mechanical alloying

Amorphous Mg₅₀Ni₅₀ alloy was produced by mechanical alloying (MA) of the elemental powders Mg and Ni using a SPEX 8000D mill. The alloyed powders were microstructurally characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The thermal transformation of amorphous Mg₅₀Ni₅₀ into stable intermetallics (Mg₅₀Ni₅₀ → remaining amorphous + Mg₂Ni → Mg₂Ni + MgNi₂) was analyzed using the Kissinger and isoconversional methods based on the non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) experiments. The apparent activation energies (E_a) and the transformation diagrams, temperature-time-transformation (T-T-T) and temperature-heating rate-transformation (T-HR-T), were obtained for both processes. A good agreement was observed between the calculated transformation curves and the experimental data, which verifies the reliability of the method utilized.     

Amorphization and crystallization processes of the ball-milled Al–Y–Fe–TM alloys (TM = Ni,Co, Cu,and Fe)

High-energy ball milling was used to synthesize aluminum-based alloys containing amorphous and nanocrystalline phases to investigate the compositional effects of transition metals (TM) on the amorphization and crystallization processes of the ball-milled Al₈₅Y₇Fe₅TM₃ alloys (TM = Ni, Co, Cu, and Fe) were investigated. The crystallization kinetics of the ball-milled Al–Y–Fe–TM nanocomposite powders were studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The DSC results of Al₈₃Y₇Fe₅Ni₅ show that the crystallization temperature and the activation energy of crystallization are 668 K and 310 kJ/mol, respectively. In-situ high-temperature X-ray diffraction showed that the crystallization was a complex process involving growth of the nanocrystalline phase along with crystallization of the amorphous matrix phase.     

Crystallization behaviors of Al-Ni-La amorphous alloys with trace Ti and B

Effects of the single or simultaneous addition of trace Ti and B (?1 at.%) on the glass-forming ability (GFA) and crystallization behaviors of Al₈₈Ni₆La₆ and Al₈₉Ni₆La₅ amorphous alloys were investigated by X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry. The addition of trace Ti and B deteriorates the GFA, but improves the thermal stability especially if Ti is added singly. The crystallization onset temperature T_x1 of the first exothermic peak increases by 29.5 and 18.0 K when 1% of the Al atoms in Al₈₈Ni₆La₆ and Al₈₉Ni₆La₅ are replaced by Ti, respectively. However, the primary phase during annealing remains unchanged.     

Effect of carbon on the microstructural evolution of Zr66.7−xNi33.3Cx (x = 0, 1, 3) alloys during mechanical alloying

In the present paper, the effect of carbon on the microstructural evolution of Zr_66.7−xNi_33.3C_x (x = 0, 1, 3) alloys during mechanical alloying has been investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that these three alloys undergo similar amorphization and crystallization processes, and the final milling product is a metastable fcc-Zr_66.7−xNi_33.3C_x phase. The carbon addition can shorten the milling time for the complete amorphization reaction and enhance the stability of the formed amorphous alloy, which can suppress the mechanically induced amorphous-crystalline phase transformation with further increasing milling time.     

Influence of rare earth elements on crystallization of Fe82Nb2B14RE2 (RE = Y, Gd, Tb, and Dy) amorphous alloys

The work concerns influence of rare earth elements on crystallization of Fe₈₂Nb₂B₁₄RE₂ (RE = Y, Gd, Tb, and Dy) group of amorphous alloys. The samples were obtained by typical melt spinning technique. The crystallization studies were carried out with the use of (i) differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) in the temperature range from 300 K to 850 K with different heating rates and (ii) standard magnetic balance (Faraday type). The crystalline structure before and after the first stage of crystallization were checked by XRD and HRTEM techniques. The measurements allow the determining crystallization temperatures, activation energies of crystallization, average size of nanograins formed during crystallization and the Curie temperatures. In the paper all the obtained results are widely discussed in the context of different rare earth alloying additions.     

Different substrate materials effect on structure of ta-C films by Raman spectroscopy for magnetic recording sliders

Raman spectra, using visible (514 nm) and ultraviolet (244 nm) excitation, of tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films of thickness of 5 nm have been studied as a function of different substrates materials. These materials are Fe-Co (Fe: 67 at.%, Co: 33 at.%) alloy, Fe-Ni alloy (Fe: 18 at.%, Ni: 82 at.%), Au and Al₂O₃-TiC (Al₂O₃: 64 at.%, TiC: 36 at.%), which are mainly used in magnetic recording sliders. The spectra show that the films deposited on Al₂O₃-TiC contain the highest sp³ content, with a lower sp³ content observed in films deposited to Fe-Co and Fe-Ni alloys. The lowest sp³ content was observed in films on the Au substrate. The results also indicate that the anti-wear performance of ta-C film on different substrates varies as Al₂O₃-TiC (the best) > Fe-Co and Fe-Ni alloy > Au (the worst). Also mechanisms are proposed to explain the effect of substrate material on these thin film properties.     

Glass-forming ability and crystallization of bulk metallic glass (HfxZr1−x)52.5Cu17.9Ni14.6Al10Ti5

We have produced a series of bulk metallic glasses of composition (Hf_xZr_1−x)_52.5Cu_17.9Ni_14.6Al₁₀Ti₅ (with x=0-1) by an arc melting/suction casting method. The density of these alloys increases by nearly 67% with increasing Hf content from 6.65 g/cm³ (x=0) to 11.09 g/cm³ (x=1). Over the same composition range the glass-forming ability decreases, as demonstrated by the size of the largest amorphous ingots that can be cast without crystallization. Although both the glass transition temperature and the melting temperature increase linearly with increasing Hf content, the reduced glass transition temperature (T_g/T_m) decreases, from 0.64 (x=0) to 0.62 (x=1), which suggests that the `confusion principle' correlating increased glass-forming ability with increased number of components, does not apply in this case due to the chemical similarity between Zr and Hf. A different crystallization behavior is observed for Zr-based and Hf-based glasses. The final crystalline phases are CuZr₂ and Zr₂Ni for Zr-based alloys, and Al₁₆Hf₆Ni₇ and CuHf₂ for Hf-based alloys.     

Glass forming ability of the Al–Ce–Ni system

In the present work, the glass forming ability (GFA) and its compositional dependence on Al–Ni–Ce system alloys were investigated as a function of several thermal parameters. Rapidly quenched Al₈₅Ni_15?XCe_X (X = 4,5,6,7,10), Al₉₀Ni₅Ce₅, Al₈₉Ni_2.4Ce_8.6, Al₈₀Ni_15.6Ce_4.4 and Al₇₈Ni_18.5Ce_3.5 amorphous ribbons were produced by melt-spinning and the structural transformation during heating was studied using a combination of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results showed that the GFA and the thermal stability in the Al-rich corner of Al–Ni–Ce system alloys were enhanced by increasing the solute content and specifically the Ce content.     

Crystallization kinetics of the Zr61Al7.5Cu17.5Ni10Si4 alloy using isothermal DSC and TEM observation

The crystallization behavior and microstructure development of the Zr₆₁Al_7.5Cu_17.5Ni₁₀Si₄ alloy during annealing were investigated by isothermal differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy. During isothermal annealing of the Zr₆₁Al_7.5Cu_17.5Ni₁₀Si₄ alloy at 703 K, Zr₂Cu crystals with an average size of about 5 nm were first observed during the early stages (30% crystallization) of crystallization by TEM. The Zr₂Cu crystal size increased with annealing time and attained an average size of 20 nm corresponding to the stage of 80% crystallization. In addition, the change in particle size with increasing annealing time exhibited a linear relationship between grain growth time and the cube of the particle size for the Zr₂Cu type crystalline phase. This indicates that the crystal growth of the Zr₆₁Al_7.5Cu_17.5Ni₁₀Si₄ alloy belongs to a thermal activated process of the Arrhenius type. The activation energy for the grain growth of Zr₂Cu is 155 ± 20 kJ/mol in the Zr₆₁Al_7.5Cu_17.5Ni₁₀Si₄ amorphous alloy. The lower activation energy for grain growth in compared to that for crystallization in Zr₆₅Cu₃₅ 440 kJ/mol crystal corresponds to the rearrangement of smaller atoms in the metallic glass, Al or Si (compare to Zr).     

Crystallization kinetics of Fe73.5−xMnxCu1Nb3Si13.5B9 (x = 0, 1, 3, 5, 7) amorphous alloys

In this study, we have investigated the effect of substituting Mn for Fe on the crystallization kinetics of amorphous Fe_73.5−xMn_xCu₁Nb₃Si_13.5B₉ (x = 1, 3, 5, 7) alloys. The samples were annealed at 550 °C and 600 °C for 1 h under an argon atmosphere. The X-ray diffraction analyses showed only a crystalline peak belonging to the α-Fe(Si) phase, with the grain size ranging from 12.2 nm for x = 0 to 16.7 nm for x = 7. The activation energies of the alloys were calculated using Kissinger, Ozawa and Augis-Bennett models based on differential thermal analysis data. The Avrami exponent n was calculated from the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami equation. The activation energy increased up to x = 3, then decreased with increasing Mn content. The values of the Avrami exponent showed that the crystallization is typical diffusion-controlled three-dimensional growth at a constant nucleation rate.     

Glass formation in the ternary Zr-Zr2Cu-Zr2Ni system

Glass formation and glass forming ability in the ternary Zr-Cu-Ni system were studied systematically. For Cu mold casting, the critical size for glass formation was found to be 1 mm in a relatively wide composition range of 56-64  at.% Zr, 16-26 at.% Cu and 16-24 at.% Ni. The phases competing with glass formation were found to be Zr, Zr₂Cu and Zr₂Ni. Despite the fact that Cu and Ni are completely miscible with each other, they cannot be regarded as simple substitution to each other in the case of glass formation in the Zr-Zr₂Cu-Zr₂Ni ternary eutectic system.     

Influence of outphase Cu50Ti50 amorphous alloy addition on microstructural evolution of mechanically alloyed Zr66.7Ni33.3 amorphous alloy

The influence of outphase Cu₅₀Ti₅₀ amorphous alloy addition on microstructural evolution of Zr_66.7Ni_33.3 amorphous alloy has been investigated using a mechanical alloying method. It has been found that the milling induced microstructural evolution is related to the change of peak positions of the first maximum on X-ray diffraction patterns of the as-obtained amorphous alloys. With increasing milling time, the 3 wt.% Cu₅₀Ti₅₀ addition can give rise to the cyclic amorphization transformation of the as-milled alloy. The mechanical stability of the mixing amorphous phase can be greatly enhanced with increasing Cu₅₀Ti₅₀ addition up to 10 wt.%. Moreover, the addition of outphase Cu₅₀Ti₅₀ amorphous alloy not only increases the onset crystallization temperature of Zr_66.7Ni_33.3 amorphous alloy but also alters its crystallization mode. The effect of outphase amorphous addition on the mechanical stability of the Zr_66.7Ni_33.3 amorphous phase has been discussed based upon the bond order theory.