초록 ▼

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, an alloy or other composite material is provided formed of a bulk metallic glass matrix with a microstructure of crystalline metal particles. The alloy preferably has a composition of (XaNibCuc)100?d?cYdAlc, wherein the sum of a, b and c eq

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, an alloy or other composite material is provided formed of a bulk metallic glass matrix with a microstructure of crystalline metal particles. The alloy preferably has a composition of (XaNibCuc)100?d?cYdAlc, wherein the sum of a, b and c equals 100, wherein 40?a?80, 0?b?35, 0?c?40, 4?d?30, and 0?e?20, and wherein preferably X is composed of an early transition metal and preferably Y is composed of a refractory body-centered cubic early transition metal. A preferred embodiment of the invention also provides a method of producing an alloy composed of two or more phases at ambient temperature. The method includes the steps of providing a metastable crystalline phase composed of at least two elements, heating the metastable crystalline phase together with at least one additional element to form a liquid, casting the liquid, and cooling the liquid to form the alloy. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the composition and cooling rate of the liquid can be controlled to determine the volume fraction of the crystalline phase and determine the size of the crystalline particles, respectively.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A method of producing an amorphous alloy comprising two or more phases at ambient temperature, comprising the steps of:providing a metastable crystalline alloy comprising at least two elements; heating the metastable crystalline alloy together with at least one additional element to form a liquid

1. A method of producing an amorphous alloy comprising two or more phases at ambient temperature, comprising the steps of:providing a metastable crystalline alloy comprising at least two elements; heating the metastable crystalline alloy together with at least one additional element to form a liquid with suspended particles of a crystalline phase; casting the liquid; and cooling the liquid to form the amorphous alloy; wherein said providing includes controlling composition of the liquid. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the controlling of the composition of the liquid determines a volume fraction of the metastable crystalline alloy.3. The method of claim 1, wherein said heating comprises heating the metastable crystalline alloy together with at least two additional elements, the additional elements being combined with each other prior to the heating step.4. The method of claim 1, further comprising annealing the metastable crystalline alloy prior to said heating step.5. The method of claim 1, wherein said heating comprises electric arc heating.6. The method of claim 1, wherein said heating comprises induction heating.7. The method of claim 1, wherein said casting comprises one of the group consisting of permanent mold casting, suction casting, injection die casting, pour casting, planar flow casting, melt spinning, and extrusion.8. The method of claim 1, further comprising shaping the alloy at a temperature above, at or just below the glass transition temperature of the solid alloy.9. The method of claim 1, wherein the alloy has a composition of ((Zr, Hf)aNibCUc)100?d?cTadAlc, where a+b+c equals 100, 40?a?65, 0?b?10, 0?c?20, 4?d?30, and 0?e?15.10. The method of claim 1, wherein the alloy produced is a metallic alloy comprising two or more phases at ambient temperature, wherein at least one phase is amorphous and at least one phase is crystalline.11. The method of claim 1, wherein said providing a metastable crystalline alloy comprises providing a metastable solid solution of at least two elements.12. The method of claim 11, further comprising annealing the metastable solid solution prior to said heating step to produce a microstructure comprising at least two phases, wherein at least one of the microstructure phases comprises suspended particles in the liquid.13. The method of claim 1, wherein said cooling further comprises cooling the liquid with the suspended particles to form an alloy with a microstructure comprising at least one crystalline phase embedded in an amorphous matrix.14. A method of producing an amorphous alloy comprising two or more phases at ambient temperature, comprising the steps of:providing a metastable crystalline alloy comprising at least two elements; forming a liquid with suspended particles of the crystalline alloy by heating the metastable crystalline alloy together with at least one additional element; casting the liquid; and cooling the liquid alloy at a cooling rate to form the amorphous alloy; wherein the cooling rate is controlled. 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the average size of the crystalline particles in the metastable crystalline posse alloy are between about 10 microns and about 50 microns.16. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of controlling composition of the liquid.17. The method of claim 14, further comprising annealing the metastable crystalline alloy.18. The method of claim 14, wherein the average size of the suspended crystalline particles in the liquid is between about 0.1 microns and about 50 microns.