Enhanced thermal stability of amorphous aluminum alloys through microalloying

Amorphous aluminum alloy powders with compositions of Al85Y7Fe8, Al83Y7Fe8Ti2, and Al79Y7Fe8Ni3Ti2Nd1 were synthesized with crystallization temperatures of 342 degrees C, 446 degrees C, and 457 degrees C, respectively. In-situ high-temperature synchrotron diffraction results were correlated with differential scanning calorimetry studies to investigate the structural evolution during the crystallization. The results show that, through microalloying, the onset-of-crystallization temperature was increased by 115 degrees C, and the resulting crystalline products changed from a mixture of fcc-Al and an intermetallic phase in the case of Al85Y7Fe8 to only intermetallic phases. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.