Synthesis and properties of bulk amorphous/nanocrystalline aluminum alloy composites

The rod-shaped bulk composites consisting of Al-10Ni-6Ce and Al-4Fe-0.6Mo-1.1V-0.3Zr alloy (mixing ratio; 0.7:0.3, 0.5:0.5 and 0.3:0.7) and corresponding monolithic alloys were produced to a full density via powder forging process. The process involved pre-compaction of rapidly solidified alloy powders and subsequent isothermal forging at 673K. The forged Al-10Ni6Ce alloy exhibited nano-scaled crystalline particles, such as fcc-Al, Al3Ni, Al4Ce and Al11Ce3 phase, coexisting with an amorphous phase. In the case of the forged Al-4Fe-0.6Mo-1.1V-0.3Zr alloy, an equiaxed grain structure was observed to exist with uniformly distributed nano-scaled Al-Fe based intermetallics. The monolithic Al-10Ni-6Ce alloy had a considerably high maximum compressive strength (MCS) of 1.35 GPa without showing any compressive plastic strain (CPS). In contrast, the monolithic Al-4Fe-0.6Mo-1.1V-0.3Zr alloy possessed noticeably high CPS of 25% with the MCS of 0.71GPa. The composites acquired the CPS varying from 1 to 5.8% and the MCS from 1.26 to 0.74 GPa, with increment of the volume fraction of Al-4Fe-0.6Mo-1.1V-0.3Zr alloy from 0.3 to 0.7.