Metallic glasses with crystalline dispersions formed by electric currents
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsZuhair Munir, Troy Holland, Jorg Loffler
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Abstract
Metallic glasses of superior mechanical and magnetic properties are manufactured by annealing the glasses under the influence of an electric current to convert the glass to a composite that includes crystallites, preferably nanocrystallites, dispersed through an amorphous matrix.
Claims55
A method for the manufacture of a composite metallic material comprising a matrix of metallic glass with metallic crystallites dispersed therein, from an alloy composition that can be cooled from a melt at a cooling rate sufficient to form a glass, said method comprising annealing a bulk metallic glass of said alloy composition that will form a glass upon cooling from a melt at a cooling rate of less than about 1,000 degrees Celsius per second, while passing an electric current through said glass at a current density of at least about 300 A/cm2 for at least one hour to cause the formation of crystallite dispersions of about 50 microns or less in diameter in said glass.
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A composite metallic material comprising a matrix of metallic glass with metallic crystallites dispersed therein, said material formed by a process comprising annealing a glass of an alloy composition while passing an electric current through said glass for a sufficient period of time to cause the formation of crystallite inclusions in said glass.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.