Y.H. Lai

Two-glassy-phase bulk metallic glass with remarkable plasticity

Using the computational-thermodynamic approach, the potential compositions of Zr–Cu–Ni–Al alloy system exhibiting the two-liquid miscibility phase equilibrium in the liquid temperature region have been identified. The resulting Zr base bulk metallic glasses show a microstructure of two microscaled glassy phases. The glass possesses a remarkable macroscopic plastic strain of 30% at room temperature. The gain of mechanical properties is attributed to the unique glassy structure correlated with the chemical inhomogeneity on the micron scale, the hard phases surrounded by the soft phases, leading extensive shear-band formation, interactions, and multiplication.

Homogeneous deformation of Au-based metallic glass micropillars in compression at elevated temperatures

We performed high-temperature microcompression tests on micron-sized pillar samples fabricated from Au49Ag5.5Pd2.3Cu26.9Si16.3 metallic glass near the glass transition temperature to investigate the homogeneous deformation behavior. Samples were invariably deformed uniformly. The strength was observed to decrease with increasing temperature and decreasing strain rate. Plastic flow behavior can be described by a shear transition zone model. The activation energy and the size of the basic flow unit were both deduced and compared favorably with the theory.

Thermomechanical Properties of Nanosilica Reinforced PEEK Composites

The nano-sized silica particulates reinforced poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) composites were fabricated by means of simple compression molding technique. The nano-sized silica, measuring 30 nm in size, was firstly modified by surface-pretreatment with stearic acid. The thermomechanical properties of the resulting PEEK/SiO2 nanocomposites were measured using dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and thermal mechanical analysis (TMA). The TMA results show that the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) becomes lowered when the content of the nanosilica increases. Furthermore, the CTE of the modified-silica filled PEEK nanocomposites shows higher CTE values, as compared with those of the unmodified counterparts. The dynamic modulus of the PEEK nanocomposites shows over 40% increment at elevated temperatures from 100-250oC, indicating the apparent improvement of elevated temperature mechanical properties.