2009 Volume 73 Issue 8 Pages 643-650
To consolidate [(Fe0.5Co0.5)0.75Si0.05B0.2]96Nb4 metallic glass powder to full density, a pressurized liquid phase sintering was employed, which was intended to promote densification by an enhanced wetting of a liquid phase with solid particles. Pd42.5Ni7.5P20Cu30 metallic glass powder, which has been reported to have a high glass forming ability and the lowest critical cooling rate of glass formation of 0.067 K/s, was chosen a liquid phase component. The melting point of the Pd42.5Ni7.5P20Cu30 metallic glass alloy of 763 K is lower than the glass transition temperature of the [(Fe0.5Co0.5)0.75Si0.05B0.2]96Nb4 metallic glass alloy of 808 K. However, the wettability of this alloy with the Pd42.5Ni7.5P20Cu30 alloy was revealed to be poor. Therefore, sintering pressure was applied to the compacts to promote a viscous flow deformation of solid particles and also to enhance the intergranular permeation of the liquid phase. A specially designed micro-hot press was devised for the pressure-sintering experiment. A pseudo wettability was observed during pressure-sintering, and the liquid phase was found to fill completely the intergranular space of the powder compact. The relative density of 64-95%, as well as the sintering structure, could be controlled by the punch displacement to squeeze out a part of the liquid phase from the compact. The compressive fracture strength of the obtained metallic glass composite was found to be as high as 2051 MPa, and the fracture was observed to be intragranular type, suggesting a good bonding in the particle-binding phase interface.
