Abstract: This work presents the effects of high energy milling with different Ni and Zr ratios on the amorphization of ternary Cu-Ni-Zr alloys (initially, Cu-43Ni-7Zr, Cu-12Ni-31Zr, Cu-33Ni-7Zr, and Cu-12Ni-23Zr; and later, Cu-23Ni-15Zr and Cu-11Ni-7Zr). Microstructure was determined using X-Ray diffraction and electron microscopy. Results were compared to thermodynamic models. In the ternary alloys under study, the lattice parameter of the Cu-Ni solid solution was generally correlated to the amounts of nickel incorporated into the Cu lattice. However, longer milling times reduced that lattice parameter and facilitated Zr insertion into the solid solution. For example, after 5 h of milling time, microstructural analysis showed the formation of a solid solution with cubic structure in Cu-43Ni-7Zr. This pattern is consistent with the presence of a lattice parameter between that of Cu and Ni (alpha-phase); in contrast, the Cu-33Ni-7Zr alloy showed an alpha-phase and another similar to Zr. Results suggest that, as the amount of nickel increases, the ability to form an amorphous phase decreases. Additionally, experimental and thermodynamic data showed a solid-solution formation stage, followed by an amorphous phase formation stage that occurred as milling time and Zr content increased. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Abstract: Elemental powders of Cu and Ni, binary alloys (Cu-Ni and Cu-Zr) and ternary alloy (Cu-Ni-Zr) obtained by mechanical alloying and uniaxial compaction hot microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated. The alloys studied were: pure Cu, pure Ni, binary alloys (Cu-Ni; Cu-Zr) and ternary alloys (Cu-Ni-Zr) under the same mechanical milling and hot pressing conditions. The samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM); the mechanical properties were studied by compression tests and hardness in Vickers scale (HV0.5) on polished surfaces at room temperature. According to XRD results, hot pressing process crystallite size increase and microstrain decreases in the compact samples due to the release of crystalline defects. The compacted samples have porosity of approximately 20%. The milling powder samples have a higher hardness than the unmilled samples, this because during milling crystal defects are incorporated together with the microstructural refinement. Ternary alloy is the one with the highest hardness of all systems studied, reaching 689 HV0.5. In compression tests determined a strain 5 %, Zr-containing samples become more fragile presenting the lowest values of compressive strength. In contrast, samples of Ni and Cu-Ni binary alloy are more resistant to compression.