Materials Science Forum Vols. 638-642

Abstract: A model that describes the viscous behavior in terms of the mean values of the bond strength, the coordination number, and their fluctuations of the structural units that form the melt has been proposed by one of the authors. In the present study, the viscous behavior of several metallic glass forming systems are analyzed by using the model. From the analysis, microscopic information such as the number of bonds that must be broken to observe the viscous flow is obtained. It is also shown that when the magnitudes of energy and coordination number fluctuations are equal, the behavior of the viscosity described by our model corresponds perfectly to the behavior described by the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann (VFT) equation.

Abstract: In this study, (Cu36Zr48Al8Ag8)100-xSix (x = 0–1) amorphous alloy rod with (2~4) mm diameter were prepared by arc melting. The thermal properties and microstructure development during the annealing of amorphous alloys have been investigated by the combination of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC),, X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and Vickers indentation. The XRD result reveals that all these as-quenched, (Cu36Zr48Al8Ag8)100-xSix alloys exhibit the broad diffraction patterns of amorphous phase. A clear Tg (glass transition temperature) and supercooled region (about 102 K) were revealed for all of those amorphous alloy rods. The crystallization temperature (Tx), (ΔTx) , and micro-hardness of (Cu36Zr48Al8Ag8)100-xSix amorphous alloys is increased as the Si content.

Abstract: The kinetics of structural relaxation in fragile glass former, Pd46Cu35.5P18.5 BMG, and strong glass former, Zr50Cu40Al10 BMG, was investigated by volume relaxation. The former exhibited a relaxation phenomenon that is well understood by the local topological instability model, while the latter showed monotonous relaxation behavior over a wide range down to Tg-60 K. The discrepancy may be closely related to the difference in the fragility of both glasses.

Abstract: A novel methodology of predicting specific compositions for glass forming alloys based on elemental cluster selection, liquidus lines, atomic packing efficiency and ab initio calculations is presented and discussed. The proposed composition selection model has lead to the discovery of a number of novel, soon to be reported Mg, Cu, Zn and Ag-based bulk metallic glasses. The proposed model may also be used to explain high glass forming ability and physical properties of known BMG compositions and to pin-point new or superior BMG compositions in existing glass forming systems. Further, the aforementioned model shows strong correlations between proposed elemental clusters, glass forming ability and BMG ductility. This model has also shown applicable adaptation to known ceramic oxide glass forming systems.

Abstract: High plastic Ti66Nb13Cu8Ni6.8Al6.2 composites with in situ precipitated ductile -Ti phase were firstly synthesized by mechanical alloying and subsequent consolidation by spark plasma sintering with crystallization. Microstructure analysis indicated that all composites contain soft (Cu, Ni)-Ti2 regions and hard -Ti regions, but the two regions have different scale and distribution. The synthesized composites exhibit high fracture strength of 2415 MPa and large plasticity as high as ~31.8%. The large plastic deformability was well explained based on the distinctive microstructure by a developed “hard-soft model”.

Abstract: Structural relaxation process in the Zr-Cu metallic glasses is investigated by using molecular dynamics simulations. The enthalpy change in isothermal annealing of the glassy state cannot be fitted by a simple exponential function but obeys a stretched exponential function, which indicates that the relaxation in glassy phase is not a single Debye type process. A close examination of individual atomic motion reveals that the enthalpy relaxation is related to a string-like cooperative motion of atoms. The analysis of the local symmetry around each atom shows that a network of the icosahedral clusters grows in the glassy phases during annealing and it closely relates to the free-volume annihilation in the structural relaxation.

Abstract: The Quantum well structures have exhibited significant utility in the fabrication of advanced laser devices. The Gallium nitride semiconductor and its alloy particularly AlGaN based quantum structures are having important applications in optical data storage systems and the visible displays. Due to tailoring of wide band gap energy the spectrum obtained is from visible to ultraviolet wavelength range. We had thoroughly investigated the influence of Aluminum mole fraction variation in AlxGa1-xN under a biased condition for GaN/AlGaN based quantum heterostructure optical properties. Here, we had used 6X6 Hamiltonian to realize these properties. The 6X6 Hamiltonian has been chosen to include the many body effect in the calculation and to enhance the accuracy of the optimized results. The paper is focused to reveal the Aluminum mole fraction dependence of near and far filed intensities, peak optical gain, carrier concentration, and optical confinement factor. The effective index method has been used in determination of the optical field intensity in the near and far regimes. The variation in Aluminum mole fraction produces disparity in carrier concentration; hence, we have obtained the spontaneous emission and optical gain as a function of photon energy for different carrier density. The piezoelectric effect on GaN quantum well due to AlGaN barriers has been included through Poisson equation. This Poisson equation has been solved in a self-consistent manner along with Schrödinger and subsequently carrier concentrations have been deduced with a high accuracy using our simulation tools developed in MATLAB.

Abstract: Fatigue strength of notched specimen and smooth specimen of Zr-based bulk metallic glass, Zr55Cu30Ni5Al10, were conducted under either plane-bending or axial-loading. Fatigue notch factor, Kf, for axial-loading was almost equal to the elastic stress concentration factor, Kt, and the value of Kf for plane-bending was 5% lower than the value of Kt. It indicates that the effect of stress gradient around notch root is negligible, and the fatigue limit of notched specimen is determined by the stress at the notch root. On the contrary, the fatigue strength and the fatigue limit were lower for axial-loading than plane-bending either for notched or smooth specimen. It is considered that the fatigue strength of BMG depends on the cooling rate in the casting process of the material, which is different along the thickness direction, and the fatigue strength of plane-bending reflects the strength at the specimen surface while that of axial-loading is determined by the weakest strength in the thickness direction.

Abstract: Ti-based metallic glasses (MGs) due to their relative low densities exhibit ultrahigh specific characteristics. In this article the glass-forming behavior and atomic structure of Ti50Cu50 MG were investigated through molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) using the general embedded-atom method (GEAM) potential. As observed experimentally, simulated Ti50Cu50 alloy undergoes three states on quenching: (i) equilibrium liquid; (ii) supercooled liquid and (iii) glassy solid. The atomic configuration of the glass was analysed based on the radial distribution function (RDF) and Voronoi tessellation (VT). It was found that there exist a variety of polyhedral units in Ti50Cu50 MG, where distorted icosohedral and bcc clusters are dominant.

Abstract: In the past research on bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) has been concentrated on searching for alloy composition to obtain high glass forming ability. Very few studies are on the effect of processing condition on glass forming ability of BMGs. In this study, we have prepared CuZr-based BMGs at different casting temperatures. Increasing casting temperature increases glass forming ability and decreases the amount of the crystalline phase during BMG solidification. At a high casting temperature 1723 K, fully amorphous sample is obtained at a size of 2 mm in diameter. While under the lower casting temperatures (1523 K and 1323 K), crystalline CuZr phases exist. The formation of the crystalline phase is attributed to the initial crystals or cluster survived in the BMG melt during ingot remelting. The study indicates that casting temperature can be used as the controlling parameter to produce purely amorphous materials or crystalline CuZr-phase reinforced BMG composites, and the mechanical properties and thermal stability of the BMG composites can be tailored by the amount of the crystalline phase existed in the materials.