Large Size Fe-Based Bulk Metallic Glass Composite Prepared by Additive Manufacturing via HVOF Thermal Spraying

Abstract

Abstract Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) are a novel class of metallic materials with disordering atomic structure and excellent mechanical and chemical properties, and are promising for various industry applications. BMGs are usually fabricated by copper-mould casting due to the requirement of fast cooling rate for the obtainment of amorphous structure. However, this casting approach has the limitation for preparation of large size samples (the biggest Fe-based BMG obtained so far is less than 16 mm diameter). In this work, the conventional high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) thermal spraying technique was utilized as a novel additive manufacturing route to create large size Fe-based BMGs and BMG composites. It will be reported that a large size of 20x20x20mm BMG (Fe48Mo14Cr15Y2C15B6 (at%) ) and big plate of 100×100×5 mm of Fe-based BMG composites reinforced with 50vol% 316L stainless steel powders was successfully prepared by HVOF thermal spraying. Both BMG and BMG composite showed very dense structure (porosity less than 0.4% ) and good mechanical properties, Especially, BMG composite reinforced with 316 L stainless steel exhibited a yield strength of 1.8 GPa and compressive plastic strain of 2%. More importantly, this Fe-based BMG composite exhibited good toughness of KJ=21 MPa m1/2, which is almost 4-times higher than that of as-cast BMG. This present work indicates that HVOF thermal spray can become a versatile technique for preparation of large size of bulk metallic glasses and composites with desired properties.