Synthesis and characterization of bulk amorphous steels

Bulk amorphous steels (BASs) are a novel class of advanced materials having very attractive physical, thermal and mechanical properties and have applications as structural materials. Two BASs Fe₅₀Cr₁₄Mo₁₄C₁₄B₆M₂ (M = Y and Dy) were designed following the Greer’s confusion principle and cylinders of thickness 3-5 mm were synthesized by Cu mold casting technique. Characterization was carried out by techniques of X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with attachment of energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The alloys show high glass-forming ability (GFA) as well as high thermal stability. Hardness and elastic moduli of the present steels were found to be about 3-4 times higher as compared to the conventional steels. Steel containing Dy has superior mechanical and thermal properties as compared to the steel containing Y.