Si3N4-doped Zr50Al15Ni10Cu25 glassy alloy by mechanical alloying and sintering process

Zr₅₀Al₁₅Ni₁₀Cu₂₅ amorphous powder was synthesized by mechanical alloying. The effect of Si₃N₄ addition on the crystallization behavior of the alloy during sintering process was studied. Thermal stability of the powders was performed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The phase and microstructure of the powders and bulk specimens sintered were determined by X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that, introducing 0.05% (mass fraction) Si₃N₄ can enhance the crystallization activation energy of the Zr₅₀Al₁₅Ni₁₀Cu₂₅ amorphous powders, which indicates that Si₃N₄ addition has hindrance effect on forming crystals from Zr₅₀Al₁₅Ni₁₀Cu₂₅ amorphous powder. However, 0.10% Si₃N₄ results in the decrease of the crystallization activation energy, which makes its crystallization process easy to occur.