Electron microscopy of bulk metallic glass machining chips

Machined Zr52.5Ti5Cu17.9Ni14.6Al10 bulk metallic glass (BMG) chips were characterized using high resolution electron microscopy. Compared to conventional processing techniques, machining produces very high heating/cooling, and deformation rates. It is therefore of interest to compare structural changes in machining chips with those produced by conventional processing. Large (∼1 μm) crystalline grain, residual amorphous region, and phase separation in the amorphous–crystalline transition region were detected in bright field TEM images. Three equilibrium phases, Zr2Cu, ZrAl2, and Zr2Ni, which have been identified in samples undergoing conventional annealing, were revealed from selected area electron diffraction patterns of the chips. High magnification TEM micrographs showed nanocrystallites, about 10 nm in size, in the amorphous–crystalline transition region.