Amorphous mechanism of Zr_(50)Al_(15)Ni_(10)Cu_(25) amorphous alloy powder prepared by mechanical alloying

Zr50Al15Ni10Cu25 powders with amorphous structure have been prepared at a high energy milling condition of 400 r/min and ball-to-powder ratio of 20:1 by mechanical alloying.The amorphous mechanism of Zr50Al15Ni10Cu25 was also explored.The phase composition,grain size and microstructure of the mixed powders were investigated by XRD and SEM,respectively.The results show that relatively high energy input 400 r/min and ball-to-powder ratio of 20:1 are suitable to achieve the Zr50Al15Ni10Cu25 amorphous powders.After 8 h of milling,amorphous alloy powders were obtained with average crystalline grain size of about 80 nm.No any super-saturation solid solutions or intermetallic alloy phases exist in the milled powders.The mixed powders were directly transformed into nano-grains because of constant impact,shearing,friction and extrusion in milling process.The amorphous powders were obtained when the grains size in powder extremely decrease in the development of mechanical alloying.