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Effect of Zr addition on the glass-forming ability and mechanical properties of Ni–Nb alloy

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Abstract

The effect of zirconium (Zr) addition on the glass-forming ability (GFA) and mechanical properties of the Ni61.5Nb38.5 alloy has been studied. The addition of Zr improves the GFA. When x = 5 for Ni61.5Nb38.5−xZrx (in at.%) alloys, the alloy exhibits the best GFA and can be cast into 3-mm-diameter amorphous samples by using the copper mold injection-casting method. Differential scanning calorimetry measurements indicated that the thermal parameters, such as Trg and γ, have not a good correlation with the GFA in the Ni–Nb–Zr alloys. Compression tests reveal that the addition of Zr just decreases the fracture strength slightly from 3.4 to 3 GPa and that all of the tested samples exhibit a little compressive plasticity of about 2%. When x = 9, the feature of the fracture surface indicates that the alloy has a tendency for transition from the ductile to the brittle. And delicate “dimple” and microscale vein pattern structures have been observed on it.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China

    Z. W. Zhu, H. F. Zhang, W. S. Sun & Z. Q. Hu

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  1. Z. W. Zhu
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  2. H. F. Zhang
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  3. W. S. Sun
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Correspondence to H. F. Zhang.

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Zhu, Z.W., Zhang, H.F., Sun, W.S. et al. Effect of Zr addition on the glass-forming ability and mechanical properties of Ni–Nb alloy. Journal of Materials Research 22, 453–459 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2007.0055

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