Mechanical properties of amorphous and partially crystallized Y50Cu42Al8 alloys

The mechanical properties of ternary Y–Cu–Al alloys produced by the melt spinning method have been investigated by Brillouin spectroscopy and combined with calculations of the effective moduli method. Structural studies and TEM images demonstrated that the alloy can form amorphous, two- and three-phase composite and polycrystalline microstructures. The elastic moduli of ribbons with different microstructures were estimated as a function of the volume fraction of the YCu nanocrystallites. It is shown that the ductility of the amorphous and two-phase composite forms are comparable to that of the YCu single crystal. The formation of YCuAl crystallites, in addition to the YCu crystallites, lowers the ductility of the alloy.

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► Y–Cu–Al alloy ribbon forms four microstructures.
► Elastic moduli of Y–Cu–Al increase with the YCu nanocrystals volume fraction.
► Ductility of the amorphous alloy similar to YCu crystal.
► Formation of YCuAl nanocrystallites in amorphous matrix lowers the alloy ductility.