METHOD FOR FORMING AMORPHOUS ALLOY PART

Abstract

A method for forming an amorphous alloy part, including: placing a master alloy on a melting platform; heating and melting the master alloy under vacuum to yield an alloy melt; stopping heating and allowing the alloy melt to cool to a temperature between a glass transition temperature and a liquidus temperature thereof; and press-forming and cooling the alloy melt, to form the amorphous alloy part.

Claims

1. A method for forming an amorphous alloy part, the method comprising: 1) placing a master alloy on a melting platform; 2) heating and melting the master alloy under vacuum to yield an alloy melt; 3) stopping heating and allowing the alloy melt to cool to a temperature between a glass transition temperature and a liquidus temperature thereof; and 4) press-forming and cooling the alloy melt, to form the amorphous alloy part.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the master alloy is prepared by smelting or casting; the master alloy is in a shape of rod, plate, flake, or sphere; and a weight of the master alloy is determined by a shape and a size of the amorphous alloy part.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the vacuum is a pressure of between 1×10.sup.−6 and 1×10.sup.−1 Pa.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the melting platform does not react with the master alloy and has no influence on melting and solidification of the master alloy.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a heating mode of the master alloy is electric arc heating, induction heating, resistance heating, laser heating, plasma heating, infrared heating, or microwave heating.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein in 4), a cooling rate of the alloy melt is between 10.sup.−2 and 10.sup.2 K/min.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] The invention is described hereinbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0020] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus used in a method for forming an amorphous alloy part in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

[0021] FIG. 2 is a Titanium-based amorphous alloy part in Example 1;

[0022] FIG. 3 is a Zirconium-based amorphous alloy part in Example 2; and

[0023] FIG. 4 is an X-ray diffraction diagram of an amorphous alloy part.

[0024] In FIG. 1, the following reference numbers are used: 1. Melting platform; 2. Vacuum chamber; 3. Master alloy; 4. Mold; and 5. Heating unit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0025] For further illustrating the invention, experiments detailing a method for forming an amorphous alloy part are described below. It should be noted that the following examples are intended to describe and not to limit the invention.

[0026] As shown in FIG. 1, a master alloy 3 having certain components and certain weight is placed on a melting platform 1. Air in the vacuum chamber 2 is exhausted, and the master alloy 3 is heated and melted using a heating unit 5 under vacuum to yield an alloy melt. Heating is stopped and the alloy melt is naturally cooled to a temperature between a glass transition temperature (Tg) and a liquidus temperature (Tl). The alloy melt is pressed using the mold 4 and cooled, to form the amorphous alloy part.

Example 1

[0027] The shaping process of amorphous alloy part in the example is as follows:

[0028] 1. Composition of the master alloy (atomic percentage): 32.8% of Titanium, 30.2% of Zirconium, 5.3% of Nickel, 9% of Copper, and 22.7% of Beryllium.

[0029] 2. Melting the master alloy: the material of the master alloy is prepared and is placed in a crucible. Air is exhausted to form a vacuum at a pressure of between 5×10.sup.−3 and 5×10.sup.−1 Pa (or inert gas is filled in). The master alloy with uniform composition are prepared by induction melting or electric arc melting. The master alloy is casted to form regular master alloy ingot (in the shape of rod, plate, or flake, etc.)

[0030] 3. Cutting the master alloy: the casted master alloy ingot is cut using cutting equipment according to the weight of required amorphous alloy part.

[0031] 4. Shaping and processing amorphous alloy part: the cut master alloy is placed on a melting platform. Air in the vacuum chamber is exhausted to form a vacuum at a pressure of between 1×10.sup.−3 and 1×10.sup.−1 Pa (or inert gas is filled in). The master alloy is heated and melted by induction heating (or other heating modes such as electric arc heating, laser heating, etc.) to yield an alloy melt. Heating is stopped and the alloy melt is freely cooled to a temperature which is 20° C. higher than the melting temperature (in the temperature range between a glass transition temperature (Tg) and a liquidus temperature (Tl) of the amorphous alloy). The alloy melt is pressed using the mold until the mold cannot further move to contact the melting platform (or a specialized shaping platform in which the alloy melt is poured following the melting). Meanwhile, the alloy melt is quickly cooled to form the amorphous alloy part as shown in FIG. 2; in the example, the quick cooling is performed using a cooling melting platform, and the cooling rate is 10.sup.−1 K/min.

Example 2

[0032] The example follows a basic process in Example 1, except that composition of the master alloy (atomic percentage) is: 54.73% of Zirconium, 29.75% of Copper, 4.97% of Nickel, 9.95% of Aluminum, 0.1% of Silver, and 0.5% of Yttrium. The amorphous alloy part prepared in the example is shown in FIG. 3.

[0033] As shown in FIGS. 2-3, the amorphous alloy part prepared by the method has smooth surface and accurate size. Analyzed from the scanning electron microscope, the amorphous alloy part has compact structure and no shrinkage hole (as shown in FIG. 4).

[0034] The alloy used in the embodiments of the invention can be any amorphous alloy, such as Titanium-based amorphous alloy, Zirconium-based amorphous alloy, Iron-based amorphous alloy, Nickel-based amorphous alloy, Magnesium-based amorphous alloy, Palladium-based amorphous alloy, Silver-based amorphous alloy, Hafnium-based amorphous alloy, Platinum-based amorphous alloy, or other amorphous alloy component of other system.

[0035] Unless otherwise indicated, the numerical ranges involved in the invention include the end values. While particular embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention in its broader aspects, and therefore, the aim in the appended claims is to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.