Effect of annealing on mechanical properties and thermal stability of ZrCu/O nanocomposite amorphous films synthetized by pulsed laser deposition

Binary ZrCu nanocomposite amorphous films are synthetized by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) under vac-uum (2 x 10-3 Pa) and 10 Pa He pressure, leading to fully amorphous compact and nanogranular mor-phologies, respectively. Then, post-thermal annealing treatments are carried out to explore thermal stability and crystallization phenomena together with the evolution of mechanical properties. Compact films exhibit larger thermal stability with partial crystallization phenomena starting at 420 degrees C, still to be completed at 550 degrees C, while nanogranular films exhibit early-stage crystallization at 300 degrees C and com-pleted at 485 degrees C. The microstructural differences are related to a distinct evolution of mechanical

Automated summary

Binary ZrCu nanocomposite amorphous films with different structures were synthesized by pulsed laser deposition under different pressure conditions. The thermal stability and crystallization temperature of the two structures were found to be different.