High strength tungsten wire reinforced Zr-based bulk metallic glass matrix composites prepared by continuous infiltration process
Highlights
► Bulk metallic glass matrix composites were prepared by using continuous process. ► Interfaces of composites and the mechanical properties are analysed. ► The strengthening mechanism of composites is interpreted.
Introduction
Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) have been considered as new generation of structural materials due to their high specific strength, hardness, toughness and corrosion resistance [1], [2], [3]. The feasibility of deformation in supercooled region makes BMGs applicable for micro- or nano-scale processing of complex parts [4]. Besides the above merits, BMGs show special dynamic mechanical properties and fracture mode. In contrast with crystalline materials, BMGs exhibit sharp increase in the fracture toughness at the high rate of compress deformation [5]. Moreover, it has been found that the fracture ends of BMGs rods always exhibit self-sharpening effect, which is especially needed for armor-piercing projectiles [6].
Most monolithic metallic glasses tend to form localized shear band and fail catastrophically upon yielding in tension or compression test, resulting in the softness and low plasticity. Compared with the current tungsten alloys, the densities of BMGs are relatively low, which is one of the issues to restrict their application for kinetic energy penetrator. To overcome these drawbacks of BMGs, great effort has been paid to the development of bulk metallic glasses matrix composites (BMGMCs) reinforced by heavy fibers or particles. For example, Zr41.25Ti13.75Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 (Vit 1) and (Zr55Al10Ni5Cu30)98.5Si1.5 BMG matrix composites reinforced by tungsten and steel wires have been fabricated by infiltration process [7], [8], [9], [10]. It is shown that the mechanical properties of these BMGs matrix composites are obviously improved. Especially, the penetrator performance of Vit 1 matrix composites with 85 vol% of tungsten wires is 10–20% better than tungsten heavy alloy penetrators with comparable aspect ratio [11]. By using injection casting, Zr57Nb5Al10Cul5.4Ni12 (Vit 106) BMGs matrix composites reinforced by Mo, Nb, Ta, W and WC particles were also prepared [12], [13]. The compressive strain-to-failure is increased by up to a factor of 12 compared to the unreinforced BMG matrix alloy.
For certain BMGs matrix alloys and the reinforcement, the methods to prepare these BMGs matrix composites are crucial. So far as present, the methods based on the melt quenching of BMGs alloys include pressure injection [14] and infiltration processes [8]. The former is only applicable for the BMGMCs with the low content of particulates. The latter is thought as the most ideal process to prepare BMGMCs, and has been widely used for various BMGMCs. This process is carried out by melting the BMGs alloy firstly in a crucible, then the molten BMG alloy is filled into the densely aligning tungsten wires under high pressure, at last form BMGMC by quenching the crucible into water. However, the infiltration process needs long time, and easily causes interfacial reaction, leading to the decrease of mechanical properties. Therefore, the length of the composite prepared by this process is usually restricted to centimeter to decimeter scale. Recently, we developed a continuous processing method to prepare BMGs coated composite wires [15], [16]. By using this method, we fabricated continuously single and double tungsten wires coated with Vit 1 BMG. These composite wires possess excellent ultimate strength and ductility under tensile loading [15]. It is seen that the length of composites is no longer limited, and the productivity can be enormously increased due to the continuous drawing and dynamic coating of composite wires. The short infiltration term reduces the possibility of interfacial reaction. However, one more step is needed through hot pressing of these coated wires in supercooled liquid region to become live BMGMC materials. In this paper, we report our finding in the high strength tungsten reinforced Vit 1 matrix composites prepared by a new continuous infiltration process. This process includes continuous drawing of a tungsten bunch which contains 24 wires into Vit 1 molten alloy, dynamic infiltration of the bunch and at last the forcible cooling of the composite by argon. The tensile strength of this BMGMC prepared in this work is as high as 2867 MPa, which is the highest among the Vit 1 matrix composites reinforced by tungsten.
Section snippets
Experimental procedures
The schematic of the continuous infiltration system for BMGMCs is shown in Fig. 1a. The system consists of a vacuum, heat, cooling, and motor drive unit. In this work, prealloy ingots of Zr41.25Ti13.75Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 (Vit 1, at%) were prepared by arc melting the mixed high purity elements (99.5–99.9 wt%) under a Ti-gettered Ar atmosphere. The master ingots were remelted four times for homogenizing the alloy elements. Alloy ingots were placed in a crucible and heated to a melt temperature of 1023
Results and discussion
The coil wound by a BMGMC rod prepared with continuous infiltration is shown in Fig. 1b. It is seen that the outer surface of the BMGMC rod is smooth and has a good metallic luster. The SEM and TEM micrographs of the cross-section of the BMGMC rod are shown in Fig. 1c–e. The interfacial region is clean. No contrast corresponding to the crystalline phase can be found at the interface between matrix and wire, indicating that no reactant was formed during the infiltration process. The clean
Conclusions
Vit 1 matrix BMGMCs containing 24 tungsten wires was prepared by a new continuous infiltration process. The BMGMCs show improved tensile properties compared with the monolithic Vit 1 BMG. The BMGMC rod containing 61.4 vol% wires exhibit tensile strength as high as 2867 MPa and plasticity of 0.75%, respectively. The strengthening mechanism of the composite is interpreted as the confinement to the propagation of shear bands by the interface. The key point is the ideal cohesion of interface.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful for the financial support of the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (no. 20100006120020), National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 51010001, 51071018 and 51001009). The authors also thank the support of the Carl Zeiss Auriga Crossbeam Workstation in the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Metals and Materials.
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