Copper alloys exhibiting enhanced oxidation resistance are provided by adding an amount of sulfur that is effective to enhance oxidative resistance. Such sulfur addition can be achieved by combining elemental forms of copper and sulfur and heating the mixture to form a molten alloy, or by forming a sulfur-rich pre-mix that is added to a base alloy composition. Forming a pre-mix provides improved homogeneity and distribution of the sulfur predominantly in the form of a metal sulfide.

The disclosure is directed to Ni-based glass-forming alloys bearing Cr and P, wherein the Cr atomic concentration is greater than 7 percent and the P atomic concentration is greater than 12 percent, and methods of fluxing such alloys such that their glass-forming ability is enhanced with respect to the glass-forming ability associated with their unfluxed state.

Cu-based bulk amorphous alloys in the quaternary Cu—Zr—Hf—Al alloy system are disclosed. A method of casting such alloys and articles comprising such alloys also are disclosed.

Provided in one embodiment is a method of identifying a stable phase of an ordering binary alloy system comprising a solute element and a solvent element, the method comprising: determining at least three thermodynamic parameters associated with grain boundary segregation, phase separation, and intermetallic compound formation of the ordering binary alloy system; and identifying the stable phase of the ordering binary alloy system based on the first thermodynamic parameter, the second thermodynamic parameter and the third thermodynamic parameter by comparing the first thermodynamic parameter, the second thermodynamic parameter and the third thermodynamic parameter with a predetermined set of respective thermodynamic parameters to identify the stable phase; wherein the stable phase is one of a stable nanocrystalline phase, a metastable nanocrystalline phase, and a non-nanocrystalline phase.

High-density thermodynamically stable nanostructured copper-based metallic systems, and methods of making, are presented herein. A ternary high-density thermodynamically stable nanostructured copper-based metallic system includes: a solvent of copper (Cu) metal; that comprises 50 to 95 atomic percent (at. %) of the metallic system; a first solute metal dispersed in the solvent that comprises 0.01 to 50 at. % of the metallic system; and a second solute metal dispersed in the solvent that comprises 0.01 to 50 at. % of the metallic system. The internal grain size of the solvent is suppressed to no more than 250 nm at 98% of the melting point temperature of the solvent and the solute metals remain uniformly dispersed in the solvent at that temperature. Processes for forming these metallic systems include: subjecting powder metals to a high-energy milling process, and consolidating the resultant powder metal subjected to the milling to form a bulk material.

Systems and methods in accordance with embodiments of the invention implement bulk metallic glass-based macroscale compliant mechanisms. In one embodiment, a bulk metallic glass-based macroscale compliant mechanism includes: a flexible member that is strained during the normal operation of the compliant mechanism; where the flexible member has a thickness of 0.5 mm; where the flexible member comprises a bulk metallic glass-based material; and where the bulk metallic glass-based material can survive a fatigue test that includes 1000 cycles under a bending loading mode at an applied stress to ultimate strength ratio of 0.25.

An apparatus and method of uniformly heating, rheologically softening, and thermoplastically forming metallic glasses rapidly into a net shape using a rapid capacitor discharge forming (RCDF) tool are provided. The RCDF method utilizes the discharge of electrical energy stored in a capacitor to uniformly and rapidly heat a sample or charge of metallic glass alloy to a predetermined “process temperature” between the glass transition temperature of the amorphous material and the equilibrium melting point of the alloy in a time scale of several milliseconds or less. Once the sample is uniformly heated such that the entire sample block has a sufficiently low process viscosity it may be shaped into high quality amorphous bulk articles via any number of techniques including, for example, injection molding, dynamic forging, stamp forging, and blow molding in a time frame of Less than 1 second.

A Zr-based amorphous alloy is provided; the formula of the Zr-based amorphous alloy is (Zr, Hf, Nb).sub.aCu.sub.bNi.sub.cAl.sub.dRe.sub.e, where a, b, c, d, and e are corresponding atomic percent content of elements in the Zr-based amorphous alloy, 45≦a≦65, 15≦b≦40, 0.1≦c≦15, 5≦d≦15, 0.05≦e≦5, a+b+c+d+e≦100, and Re is one of or any combination of elements La, Ce, Po, Ho, Er, Nd, Gd, Dy, Sc, Eu, Tm, Tb, Pr, Sm, Yb, and Lu, or Re is combined with Y and one of or any combination of elements La, Ce, Po, Ho, Er, Nd, Gd, Dy, Sc, Eu, Tm, Tb, Pr, Sm, Yb, and Lu.

Provided are a crystalline alloy having significantly better thermal stability than an amorphous alloy as well as glass-forming ability, and a method of manufacturing the crystalline alloy. The present invention also provides an alloy sputtering target that is manufactured by using the crystalline alloy, and a method of manufacturing the alloy target. According to an aspect of the present invention, provided is a crystalline alloy having glass-forming ability which is formed of three or more elements having glass-forming ability, wherein the average grain size of the alloy is in a range of 0.1 μm to 5 μm and the alloy includes 5 at % to 20 at % of aluminum (Al), 15 at % to 40 at % of any one or more selected from copper (Cu) and nickel (Ni), and the remainder being zirconium (Zr).

Provided are an apparatus for manufacturing a compound powder, a method of manufacturing an iron-boron compound powder by using the apparatus, a boron alloy powder mixture, a method of manufacturing the boron alloy powder mixture, a combined powder structure, a method of manufacturing the combined powder structure, a steel pipe, and a method of manufacturing the steel pipe The method of manufacturing the boron alloy powder mixture includes: preparing a mixed powder including a boron iron alloy powder and a target powder; heat-treating the mixed powder to boronize at least a portion of the target powder and de-boronize at least a portion of the boron iron alloy powder, thereby de-boronizing the boron iron alloy powder to reduce the melting point of the boron iron alloy powder.