Production of amorphous alloys and bulk metallic glasses for special apllications

• Grant number: 11/21135-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2011
• End date: August 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Physical Metallurgy
• Principal Investigator: Conrado Ramos Moreira Afonso
• Grantee: Felipe Dantas Barbosa
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 05/59594-0 - Properties of amorphous, metastable and nano-structured metallic alloys, AP.TEM

Abstract

Since it discovery, in 1960, of the possibility of amorphous structure formation in metallic alloys through rapid cooling (about 106 K/s) from the liquid metal, this new material "AMORPHOUS METAL" has received special attention from researchers around the world. After 1972 various Fe-based and Co-based alloys with an amorphous structure, which magnetic properties are superior to that of conventional materials, have been applied to power transformer cores, recording heads, sensors, etc. The great barrier to amplifying the use and application of these alloys, for example, the exploration of its excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance is in the development of processes and compositions that would allow the production of bulk pieces (millimeter scale) and maintaining the amorphous structure that provides innovative properties. The group of Amorphous and Nanostructured Metals of DEMa-UFSCar have been developing semi-empiric criteria that, when combined (for example, criteria based on the topology and others based on the thermodynamics), show as a very efficient tool in the discovery of new alloy compositions with good glass forming ability (GFA). Specifically, this study proposes the development of new Ti-based alloys and Cu-Zr alloys with good GFA with the strategy of applying a combination of criteria developed by our own research group of DEMa-UFSCar for the Ti-Cu-Si and Cu-Zr systems and the processing of new compositions for special applications. The objective of this project is to produce new amorphous metallic alloys of Ti-based and Cu-Zr systems with good GFA for evaporation with the aim of producing thin films of nanometric thickness for specific applications, such as phase plates for the Ti-Cu-Si alloy and to provide the realization of an in-situ tensile test in a metallic glass nanowire through high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) with the Cu-Zr alloy.(AU)