An external part element or component for a timepiece or piece of jewellery made with a fibre-reinforced polymer matrix composite material, this external part element including on at least one of the faces thereof at least one cavity wherein an insert made of metallic glass is housed. A method for manufacturing such an external part element is also described.

An enclosure for an implantable cardiac or neurostimulation device includes a bulk metallic glass alloy. In some arrangements, the enclosure is configured to house one or more components of an implantable pacemaker. In some arrangements, the enclosure is configured to house one or more components of an implantable defibrillator.

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask blanks, methods for their manufacture and production systems therefor are disclosed. The EUV mask blanks comprise a substrate; a multilayer stack of reflective layers on the substrate; a capping layer on the multilayer stack of reflecting layers; and an absorber layer on the capping layer, the absorber layer comprising an alloy selected from an alloy of ruthenium (Ru) and silicon (Si); an alloy tantalum (Ta) and platinum (Pt); and an alloy of ruthenium (Ru) and molybdenum (Mo).

Embodiments disclosed herein relate to the production of amorphous metals having compositions of iron, chromium, molybdenum, carbon and boron for usage in additive manufacturing, such as in layer-by-layer deposition to produce multi-functional parts. Such parts demonstrate ultra-high strength without sacrificing toughness and also maintain the amorphous structure of the materials during and after manufacturing processes. Two additive manufacturing techniques are provided: (1) the complete melting of amorphous powder and re-solidifying to amorphous structure to eliminate the formation of crystalline structure therein by controlling a heating source power and cooling rate without affecting previous deposited layers; and (2) partial melting of the outer surface of the amorphous powder, and solidifying powder particles with each-other without undergoing a complete melting stage. Amorphous alloy compositions have oxygen impurities in low concentration levels to optimize glass forming ability (GFA). Specific techniques of additive manufacturing include those based on lasers, electron beams and ultrasonic sources.

Methods and systems for preparing metallic alloys comprising volatile materials such as phosphorus suitable for bulk metallic glasses are described. The methods variously involve carrying out alloying at temperatures and pressures that minimize or counteract sublimation of the volatile species.

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.

Bulk solidifying amorphous alloys exhibiting improved processing and mechanical properties and methods of forming these alloys are provided. The bulk solidifying amorphous alloys are composed to have high Poisson's ratio values. Exemplary Pt-based bulk solidifying amorphous alloys having such high Poisson's ratio values are also described. The Pt-based alloys are based on Pt—Ni—Co—Cu—P alloys, and the mechanical properties of one exemplary alloy having a composition of substantially Pt.sub.57.5Cu.sub.14.7Ni.sub.5.3P.sub.22.5 are also described.

An amorphously solidifying noble metal alloy has the following composition of AaBbCc, wherein: A represents at least one noble metal from a group of platinum and palladium; B represents at least one element from a group of Al, Au, Ag and Cu; and C represents at least one element from a group of Ga and Ge. The mass fraction a lies in a region of 45-60 mass percent. The mass fraction b lies in the region of 39-55 mass percent. The mass fraction c lies in the region of 0-13 mass percent. Where platinum and palladium are both present, the amorphous noble metal alloy does not have aluminum as the sole alloy component from group B. The above mass fractions a, b and c, aside from typical admixtures, impurities and alloy tolerances, add up to 100 mass percent.

The present disclosure provides Au-based alloys comprising Si capable of forming metallic glass matrix composites, and metallic glass matrix composites formed thereof. The Au-based metallic glass matrix composites according to the present disclosure comprise a primary-Au crystalline phase and a metallic glass phase and are free of any other phase. In certain embodiments, the metallic glass matrix composites according to the present disclosure satisfy the 18-Karat Gold Alloy Hallmark.

Described herein is a crucible with a rod fused thereon to optimize pouring of molten material, and method of using the same. The crucible has a body configured for receipt of an amorphous alloy material in a vertical direction, and the rod extends in a horizontal direction from the body. The body of the crucible and the rod are formed from silica or quartz. The rod may be fused to the body of the crucible and provided off a center axis so that pouring molten material is improved when the crucible is rotated.