Enhanced plasticity in a Zr-based bulk metallic glass composite with in situ formed intermetallic phases

An in situ formed intermetallic phase/bulk metallic glass composite with high strength and good plasticity was fabricated by casting Zr55.0Cu29.0Ni8.0Al8.0 melts. In situ formed tetragonal structured (Zr,Ni,Al)(2)(Cu,Ni,Al) intermetallic particles with a hardness of 9.6 +/- 0.3 GPa improve the fracture strength of the composite. Micrographs of the fractured samples reveal that the shear band spacing is smaller than the intermetallic particles, indicating that they can effectively block shear band propagation before catastrophic fracture.