2007 Volume 48 Issue 6 Pages 1276-1281
In order to improve embrittlement phenomena by structural relaxation, Zr-enriched hypoeutectic Zr-Cu-Al bulk glassy alloys (BGAs) were examined. During annealing for structural relaxation, the density increases significantly with annealing time from 103 s, and apparent saturation is seen at approximately 5.4 ks. Hardness and tensile strength do not change remarkably with annealing temperature. However, the Charpy impact value increases significantly by annealing at 648 K for 5.4 ks. The tendency of distinct increase of the Charpy impact value is maximized at Zr59Cu31Al10 in hypoeutectic Zr-Cu-Al BGAs. A drastic increase in the Charpy impact value is accompanied by an increase in nonlinear density with increasing annealing temperature. Furthermore, the mechanical properties of fully structural relaxed Zr59Cu31Al10 BGAs are characterized by their superior shear band formation and branching ability, which can be estimated by the shear slip width before shear band opening.
