Coextrusion forming characteristics of novel Cu alloy/bulk metallic glass composite

A novel Cu alloy/bulk metallic glass (BMG) composite was fabricated through the coextrusion process, based on the excellent thermoplastic forming characteristics of BMG in the supercooled liquid region (SLR). The Cu-based amorphous Cu₄₀Zr₄₄Ag₈Al₈ and pure Cu alloy were selected as components. The Cu alloy/BMG composite bar was easily fabricated at extrusion temperature of 703 K and extrusion speed of 0.4 mm/min. The morphology and structure of the core BMG before and after the coextrusion with Cu were characterized by optical microscopy (OM), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and microhardness (HV). The results indicate that the core BMG can reach the approximately uniform distribution of the dimension after suffering the shortly inhomogeneous distribution of the dimension in the initial stages of coextrusion. Combining the analysis of XRD, DSC and micro hardness (HV), it can be concluded that the crystallization of core BMG does not occur after the coextrusion with Cu at 703 K.