Design, fabrication, and application of a directional thermal processing system for controlled devitrification of metallic glasses

The potential of using metallic glass as a pathway to obtaining novel morphologies and metastable phases has been garnering attention since their discovery. Several rapid solidification techniques; such as gas atomization, melt spinning, laser melting, and splat quenching produce amorphous alloys. A directional thermal processing system (DTPS) was designed, fabricated and characterized for the use of zone processing or gradient-zone processing of materials. Melt-spun CuZr metallic glass alloy was subjected to the DTPS and the relaxation and crystallization responses of the metallic glass were characterized. A range of processing parameters were developed and analyzed that would allow for devitrification to occur.;The relaxation and crystallization responses were compared with traditional heat treatment methods of metallic glasses. The new processing method accessed equilibrium and non-equilibrium phases of the alloy and the structures were found to be controllable and sensitive to processing conditions. Crystallized fraction, crystallization onset temperature, and structural relaxation were controlled through adjusting the processing conditions, such as the hot zone temperature and sample velocity. Reaction rates computed from isothermal (TTT) transformation data were not found to be reliable, suggesting that the reaction kinetics are not additive. This new processing method allows for future studying of the thermal history effects of metallic glasses.