Mechanical properties of ductile Fe-Ni-Zr and Fe-Ni-Zr (Nb or Ta) amorphous alloys containing fine crystalline particles

Abstract

Melt-quenched Fe60–80Ni10–30Zr10 and Fe70Ni20Zr10−x(Nb or Ta) x (x≲2 at %) alloy ribbons with the duplex structure consisting of amorphous and bcc phases were found to exhibit hardness and tensile strengths higher than those of the totally amorphous alloys. The volume fraction of the bcc phase was intentionally allowed to alter in the range 0% to 60% by changing the composition and sample thickness. The bcc phase has an average particle size of 75 nm for the Fe-Ni-Zr alloys and 50 nm for the Fe-Ni-Zr-Nb alloys, and the lattice parameter is much larger than that of pure α-Fe because of the dissolution of large amounts of zirconium, niobium and/or tantalum. The hardness and tensile strength of the duplex alloys increase with amount of bcc phase and reach about 880 DPN and 2580 MPa, which are higher by about 20% to 30% than those of the amorphous single state, at an appropriate volume fraction of bcc phase. As the volume fraction of the bcc phase increases further, the duplex alloys become brittle and the tensile strength decreases significantly. The enhancement of strength was considered to be due to the suppression of shear slip caused by fine bcc particles dispersed uniformly in the amorphous matrix. It was thus demonstrated that an optimum control of melt-quenched structure results in the formation of ductile Fe-based amorphous alloys containing fine crystalline particles.