Rev.Adv.Mater.Sci. (RAMS)
No 3, Vol. 18, 2008, pages 221-224

DEVITRIFICATION OF MECHANICALLY ALLOYED Zr-Ti-Nb-Cu-Ni-Al GLASSY
POWDERS STUDIED BY TIME-RESOLVED X-RAY DIFFRACTION

S. Scudino, D.J. Sordelet and J. Eckert

Abstract

The crystallization of mechanically alloyed Zr67Ti6.14Nb1.92Cu10.67Ni8.52Al5.75 glassy powder is investigated by time-resolved X-ray diffraction. The powder displays a multi-step crystallization behavior characterized by the formation of a metastable nanoscale quasicrystalline phase during the first stage of the crystallization process. At higher temperatures, coinciding with the second crystallization event, the amorphous-to-quasicrystalline transformation is followed by the precipitation of the tetragonal Zr2Cu phase (space group I4/mmm) and the tetragonal Zr2Ni phase (space group I4 /mcm). The transformations are gradual and the quasicrystals and the subsequent phases coexist over a temperature interval of about 25K.

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