Effect of Precipitation on the Hardness of Ternary Metallic Glass

The present study reports effects of annealing treatment on the hardness of Ce75Al23Si2 rare earth-based metallic glasses (REMG). Then specimens were annealed at 100°C, 200°C, 250°C, 270°C, and 290°C five different temperatures for 30 minutes. After that, three different characteristic methods, including microindentation, X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and scanning electrical microscope (SEM) were conducted on the as received REMG sample and five annealed samples. XRD data demonstrate that the crystallization occurs in the sample at the annealing temperature as low as 200°C. The microindentation measurement shows that hardness of the REMG sample does not change at all before crystallization occurs in the sample and increases with the annealing temperature in the range of 200°C to 290°C. The average crystal size in the annealed samples was estimated using Debye-Scherrer equation to be 28-42 nm, in consistent with the SEM observation, indicating that nano-crystalline domains may give rise to the enhancement of hardness.