Novel W-based metallic glass with high hardness and wear resistance

• A new, refractory W–Ni–B metallic glass is developed.
• Exceptionally wear-resistant alloy.
• Very high resilience, suggesting applications in MEMS.
• Much cheaper than other W-based metallic glasses.

An attempt has been made to develop a new metallic glass (MG) that combines high hardness with wear resistance. Refractory metallic films of W33Ni32B35 (at.%) have been deposited on stainless steel and Si substrates by dc magnetron sputtering. The alloy films are glassy, have a high crystallization temperature of 873 °C and rank among the very hard metallic materials (∼24 GPa). Importantly, this MG also shows excellent wear resistance, approaching that of standard tribological materials like TiN and hence it represents one of the most wear-resistant known metallic materials. Based on its unique combination of high strength and low elastic modulus, other potential applications are also discussed.