Crystallization of Cu60Zr20Ti20 bulk metallic glass by high pressure torsion

Abstract Bulk metallic glass of Cu₆₀Zr₂₀Ti₂₀ composition has been synthesized by copper mold casting. Slices of the as-cast glass has been subjected to severe plastic deformation by high-pressure torsion for different whole turns. The microstructure and the thermal behavior of the deformed disks have been investigated by X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry. It was confirmed that the initial compression preceding the high pressure torsion induces crystallized structure, which shows only minor further changes upon the severe plastic shear deformation achieved by twisting the sample. The X-ray line profiles have been evaluated by the Convolutional Whole Profile Fitting algorithm in order to determine the evolution of the microstructural parameters, such as the median and variance of the crystallite size distribution, average crystallite size and dislocation density as a function of the number of revolutions. Hardness measurements by nanoindentation have also been carried out on the as-cast alloys and the deformed disks.