Multiscale Manufacturing of Amorphous Alloys by a Facile Electrodeposition Approach and Their Property Dependence on the Local Atomic Order

Abstract

Metallic glasses are a unique class of materials combining ultrahigh strength together with plastic-like processing ability. However, the currently used melt quenching route to obtain amorphous alloys has a high cost basis in terms of manufacturing and expensive constituent elements often necessary to achieve the glassy state, thus hindering widespread adoption. In contrast, multimaterial electrodeposition offers a low-cost and versatile alternative to obtain amorphous alloys. Here, we demonstrate multiscale manufacturing of a model binary amorphous system by a facile and scalable pulsed electrodeposition approach. The structural and mechanical characteristics of electrodeposited Ni–P metallic glasses are investigated by a combination of experiments and molecular dynamics simulations. The property dependence on slight change in alloy chemistry is explained by the fraction of short-range-order clusters and geometrically unfavorable motifs. Bicapped square antiprism polyhedra clusters with two-atom connections result in more homogeneous deformation for Ni90P10 metallic glass, whereas a relatively higher fraction of three-atom connections in Ni85P15 metallic glass leads to higher strength, albeit localized and relatively brittle failure. The practicality of our approach is likely to stimulate the use of amorphous alloys in simple chemistries for multiscale use with systematic property optimization for specific applications.

Latest Advances in Manufacturing and Machine Learning of Bulk Metallic Glasses

“…Thus, higher current densities can result in amorphous coatings. For example, the preparation of Ni 100− x P x ( x = 0, 5, 10, 15, and 25 at%) amorphous coatings [ 227 ] made use of an electrolyte of phosphorous acid (H 3 PO 3 ), nickel sulfate (NiSO 4 •6H 2 O), nickel chloride (NiCl 2 •6H 2 O), boric acid (H 3 BO 3 ), and sodium dodecyl sulfate (NaCl 2 H 25 SO 4 ), a cathode of copper, and an anode of nickel. The electrodeposition process was controlled by varying the peak current densities, using 20 A dm −2 for Ni 95 P 5 , 17 A dm −2 for Ni 90 P 10 , 12 A dm −2 for Ni 85 P 15 , and 5 A dm −2 for Ni 75 P 25 .…”

Model Metallic Glasses for Superior Electrocatalytic Performance in a Hydrogen Oxidation Reaction

“…The majority of PGM catalysts studied till date are crystalline, which favor catalytic reactions primarily along few crystallographic orientations, , thereby limiting the full potential of the catalyst. In contrast, bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) represent a new paradigm in electrocatalyst design and have shown promising performance in many catalytic reactions due to their disordered atomic structure and high density of low-coordination surface sites. − Each surface site in a metallic glass is potentially active because of atomic-scale disorders and electron localization . Furthermore, BMGs have the unique appeal of facile and scalable thermoplastic manipulation at the nanometer length scale to synthesize complex hierarchical nanostructures that are attractive for catalytic applications. , Noble metal-based BMG catalysts, such as PdNiCuP, PdNiPB, PtCuNiP, PdCuNiP, and PtPdCuNiP, have shown significantly higher activity compared to pure noble metals.…”

Unraveling the Structural Statistics and Its Relationship with Mechanical Properties in Metallic Glasses

“…Here, we bridge the processing-structure-property gap by analyzing SRO and MRO for as-cast, relaxed, and rejuvenated Ni 80 P 20 metallic glass as a model amorphous alloy system. The Ni–P system was chosen because of its simple chemistry and application in a wide range of areas including automotive industries, surface protection from corrosion and wear, and micro/nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) . Adopting a refined and rigorous classification of structural statistics proposed by Sheng et al, we identified the coordination polyhedra for all the atoms in the model and classified them into two groups: (i) loose packing and (ii) dense packing.…”