Plasticity in Bulk Metallic Glass Composites Containing Dual Amorphous Phases

Bulk metallic glass (BMG) composites with dual amorphous phases were fabricated by spark plasma sintering of a mixture of Cu-based and Zr-based amorphous powders in their overlapped supercooled liquid region. The Zr-based amorphous phases are well distributed homogeneously in the Cu-based metallic glass matrix after consolidation. The BMG composite still remains as an amorphous structure after consolidation. The BMG composite with dual amorphous phases shows macroscopic plasticity after yielding, and the plastic strain increased to around 3.4% in the BMG composite containing 30 vol% Zr-based amorphous phase. The successful consolidation of BMG composite with enhanced plasticity was achieved by introducing a second amorphous phase in the metallic glass matrix.