Structure and properties of bulk nanostructured alloys synthesized by flux-melting

Nanomaterials can easily be prepared as thin films and powders, but are much harder to prepare in bulk form. Nanostructured materials are prepared mainly by consolidation, electrodeposition, and deformation. These processing techniques have problems such as porosity, contamination, high cost, and limitations in refining the grain size. Since most bulk engineering metals are initially prepared by casting, we developed a casting technique, flux-melting and melt-solidification, to prepare bulk nanostructured alloys. The casting technique has such advantages as simplicity, low cost, and full density. In our method, Ag–Cu alloys were melted in B2O3 flux, which removed most of the impurities, mainly oxides, in the melts. Upon solidifying the melt at a relatively slow cooling rate on the order of 101–102 K/s a large undercooling of ∼0.25 Tm (where Tm is the melting temperature) was achieved. This large undercooling leads to the formation of bulk nanostructured Ag–Cu alloys composed of alternative Ag/Cu lamella and nanocrystals, both ∼50 nm in dimension. Our liquid-processed alloys are fully dense and relatively free from contamination. The nanostructured Ag–Cu alloys have similar yield strength in tension and in compression. The as-quenched alloys have yield strength of 400 MPa, ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 550 MPa, and plastic elongation of ∼8%. The UTS was further increased to ∼830 MPa after the as-quenched alloy rod was cold drawn to a strain of ∼2. The nanostructured Ag–Cu alloys show a high electrical conductivity (∼80% that of International Annealed Copper Standard), a slight strain hardening (strain-hardening coefficient of 0.10), and a high thermal stability up to a reduced temperature of 2/3 Tm. Some of these behaviors are different than those found in previous bulk nanostructured materials synthesized by solid state methods, and are explained based on the unique nanostructures achieved by our flux-melting and melt-solidification technique.