Processability of an amorphous metal alloy powder by electron beam melting

Abstract

The global research on metallic glasses is driven by the promises of their unique properties. They are considered a material of the future due to their high strength, good corrosion resistance and high elasticity. However, metallic glasses are not yet widely circulated, because the necessary high cooling rate can only produce small parts. Therefore, the additive manufacturing processes such as electron beam melting (EBM) might be able to overcome this limit. So far, there has only been research on the impact of the electron beam on bulk metallic glasses. There have been investigations of electron beams on amorphous metals but no direct generation of bulk metallic glasses. However, there has not been extensive research on the manufacturing of bulk metallic glasses (BMG) by the means of electron beam melting. In order to manufacture BMGs in the future, a systematic investigation of the process parameters of EBM is necessary. In this study an amorphous metal powder, based on zirconium, was sintered with different electron beam settings and the process results were characterized. The results show the influence of the energy input of the electron beam on the processability of the amorphous metal powder and the sinter quality of the sinter cake.