Synthesis and characterization of bulk amorphous steels

Bulk amorphous steels (BASs) are a novel class of advanced materials having very attractive physical, thermal and mechanical properties and have applications as structural materials. Two BASs Fe50Cr14Mo14C14B6M2 (M = Y and Dy) were designed following the Greer’s confusion principle and cylinders of thickness 3–5 mm were synthesized by Cu mold casting technique. Characterization was carried out by techniques of X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with attachment of energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The alloys show high glass-forming ability (GFA) as well as high thermal stability. Hardness and elastic moduli of the present steels were found to be about 3–4 times higher as compared to the conventional steels. Steel containing Dy has superior mechanical and thermal properties as compared to the steel containing Y.