Phase Selection in a Laser Surface Melted Zr-Cu-Ni-Al-Nb Alloy

The present work explores the use of the LENS™ (laser engineered net shaping) powder deposition technique in combination with laser surface melting to evaluate the formation–properties–production of bulk metallic glass-forming systems. A model Zr-Cu-Ni-Al-Nb alloy was subjected to a number of laser surface melting experiments to remelt and rapidly solidify a thin surface layer (the laser power varied from 150 W to 450 W and the travel speed of the substrate surface relative to the laser beam varied from 8 mm/s to 170 mm/s). Detailed SEM/TEM evaluation of the microstructure formed under selected laser surface melting conditions was conducted. A marked transition in the microstructure was observed as a result of phase selection, driven by the undercooling manifest under the different imposed solidification conditions. It is considered that such a technique provides valuable insight into the scope for microstructure manipulation through the precise control of the processing variables. The control of the microstructural length scale and the tuning of the intrinsic elastic constants of the constituent phases have been identified as being paramount, for example, in the alloy design of amorphous matrix composites.