Production of copper-based metallic glasses: evolution of the phases during mechanical alloying

ABSTRACTIn this study, different, copper-based materials were fabricated under equal milling conditions (SPEX 8000D, argon atmosphere, stearic acid, BPR=10:1) and variable amounts of time, from 1 to 120 hours, in order to compare the microstructural changes during the process. The materials were: Pure copper; Cu-Ni alloys; Cu-Zr alloys; and Cu-Ni-Zr alloys. Subsequent to milling, the samples were measured with X-Ray Diffraction, Electron Transmission Microscopy, and Differential Scanning Calorimetry. According to the results, copper, upon being subjected to the process, reaches a crystallite size that tends towards an asymptote starting at 5 hours. In the Cu-Ni system, instead of observing a microstructural refinement during this same period, there was rather a total solubilization of the nickel into the copper (40-60 and50-50), and of the copper into the nickel (60-40). As for the Cu-Zr binary system, it was found that, for five hours as well, the system was practically amorphous (60-40 and 50-50), a condition also present in the Cu-Ni-Zr ternary alloys (60-10-30 and 50-10-40).