On the conditions for the synthesis of bulk metallic glasses by mechanical alloying

In the present study, an attempt has been made to develop milling maps/energy maps for the formation of amorphous phase in bulk glass forming alloys such as Zr65Al7.5Cu17.5Ni10, Ti50Cu23Ni20Sn7, Ti50Ni20Cu20Al10, Cu60Zr30Ti10, Fe56Co7Ni7Zr10B20, Ni60Nb20Ti12.5Zr7.5, Ti55Zr20Ni25 and Zr55Ti25Ni20. Milling parameters such as milling speed, ball to powder weight ratio have been varied over wide ranges in order to have a wide range of milling energies. The results indicate that total energy of milling has a decisive role than the impact energy of the ball in the formation of the amorphous phase by planetary ball mill. The paper compares the glass forming abilities of the various bulk glass forming compositions in terms of the milling maps in order to develop better understanding of glass forming criteria by mechanical alloying. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.