Preparation of Al₇₂Ni₈Ti₈Zr₆Nb₃Y₃ amorphous powders and bulk materials

Amorphous Al₇₂Ni₈Ti₈Zr₆Nb₃Y₃ powders were successfully fabricated by mechanical alloying. The microstructure, glass-forming ability, and crystallization behavior of amorphous Al₇₂Ni₈Ti₈Zr₆Nb₃Y₃ powders were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The isothermal crystallization kinetics was analyzed by the Johnson–Mehl–Avrami equation. In the results, the supercooled liquid region of the amorphous alloy is as high as 81 K, as determined by non-isothermal DSC curves. The activation energy for crystallization is as high as 312.6 kJ·mol⁻¹ obtained by Kissinger and Ozawa analyses. The values of Avrami exponent (n) imply that the crystallization is dominated by interface-controlled three-dimensional growth in the early stage and the end stage and by diffusion-controlled two- or three-dimensional growth in the middle stage. In addition, the amorphous Al₇₂Ni₈Ti₈Zr₆Nb₃Y₃ powders were sintered under 2 GPa at temperatures of 673 K and 723 K. The results show that the Vickers hardness of the compacted powders is as high as Hv 1215.