Metallic glasses with crystalline dispersions formed by electric currents
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsZuhair A. Munir, Troy B. Holland, Jörg F. Löffler
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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.
Claims24
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.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.