Phase stability and consolidation of glassy/nanostructured Al85Ni9Nd4Co2 alloys

Al85Ni9Nd4Co2 metallic glass/nanostructured ribbons and powders were used as starting materials for producing bulk amorphous/nanostructured Al-based alloys. Glassy ribbons were obtained by melt spinning at wheel surface velocities ranging from 5 to 37 m/s. The amorphous ribbons exhibited a supercooled liquid region of ∼20 K, a reduced glass transition temperature of ∼0.47 and γ ∼ 0.328. Mechanical alloying of the elemental powder mixture did not lead to amorphization. However, amorphous powders obtained by milling the glassy ribbons for 9 h exhibited a thermal stability similar to the initial ribbons. Isothermal differential scanning calorimetry measurements were used to determine the consolidation parameters of the glassy powders. Consolidation at 513 K by uniaxial hot pressing and hot extrusion indicated that the former method leads to bulk glassy samples, whereas the latter one yields nanostructured α-Al/glassy matrix composites.