Deformation-driven catalysis of nanocrystallization in amorphous Al alloys

Nanocrystals develop in amorphous alloys usually during annealing treatments with growth- or nucleation-controlled mechanisms. An alternative processing route is intense deformation and nanocrystals have been shown to develop in shear bands during the deformation process. Some controversy surrounded the idea of adiabatic heating in shear bands during their genesis, but specific experiments have revealed that the formation of nanocrystals in shear bands has to be related to localized deformation rather than thermal effects. A much less debated issue has been the spatial distribution of deformation in the amorphous alloys during intense deformation. The current work examines the hypothesis that intense deformation affects the regions outside shear bands and even promotes nanocrystal formation in those regions upon annealing. Melt-spun amorphous Al₈₈Y₇Fe₅ alloy was intensely cold rolled. Microcalorimeter measurements at 60 °C indicated a slight but observable growth of nanocrystals in shear bands over the annealing time of 10 days. When the cold-rolled samples were annealed at 210 °C for one hour, transmission electron images did not show any nanocrystals for as-spun ribbons, but nanocrystals developed outside shear bands for the cold rolled samples. X-ray analysis indicated an increase in intensity of the Al peaks following the 210 °C annealing while the as-spun sample remained "X-ray amorphous". These experimental observations strongly suggest that cold rolling affects regions (i.e., spatial heterogeneities) outside shear bands and stimulates the formation of nanocrystals during annealing treatments at temperatures well below the crystallization temperature of undeformed ribbons.