Materials and Design 81 (2015) 5964

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Materials and Design

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matdes

Formation of highly thermal stable Al88Ni6Y6 amorphous composite

by graphene addition design
Zhenxi Sun a, Qi Xing a, Eugen Axinte b, Wenjuan Ge a, Jinfeng Leng a, Yan Wang a,
a
b

School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Jinan, 336 Nan Xinzhuang West Road, Jinan 250022, PR China
Gh. Asachi Technical University of Iasi, Faculty of Machine Manufacturing & Industrial Management, 59 A, Prof. Dimitrie Mangeron Blvd., Romania

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 14 January 2015
Revised 27 April 2015
Accepted 9 May 2015
Available online 11 May 2015
Keywords:
Graphene
Thermal stability
Mechanical alloying
Amorphous composite
Al-based alloy

a b s t r a c t
We study the effect of graphene (Gr) addition on the amorphisation and thermal stability of the
Al88Ni6Y6 + x wt.% Gr (x = 0, 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8) alloys during mechanical alloying. The nal
milling-products consist of the amorphous phase and a few nanocrystals with face-centered cubic (fcc)
structure, and the AlNiY(Gr) amorphous composites have been fabricated. We nd that the 0.2 wt.% Gr
addition obviously benets the amorphisation and remarkably enhance the onset crystallization temperature of the alloy. Continuous heating transformation diagram shows that the as-milled Gr additional
alloys need longer time than the Al88Ni6Y6 alloys to begin to transform into crystals, indicating the Gr
addition design enhances the thermal stability of the as-milled Al88Ni6Y6 alloy. The inuence mechanism
of Gr addition has been discussed based upon the negative heat of mixing, atomic-size mismatch,
diffusion-asymmetry, and special structure of Gr.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Al-based amorphous alloys as environmental friendly materials
have attracted more and more attention because of their potential
applications in aerospace and transportation eld, due to their low
density, high specic strength and corrosion-resistant property in
recent years [13]. The predominant Al-based amorphous alloys
include Al-transition metal (TM)rare earth metal (RE), such as
AlNiY/Gd/La [46], AlNiYCoLa [7], and AlFeCe [8] systems. However, the widespread usages of these Al-based amorphous alloys in practical engineering elds are severely hindered
by small size material restricted by low glass-forming ability
(GFA) and thermal stability [3]. The microalloying technique has
been used to effectively improve the GFA and thermal stability,
and change the crystallization process of Al-based amorphous
alloys [911]. The B addition could increase the activation energy
for crystallization of the Al87Y8Ni5 amorphous alloy from 159 up
to 228 kJ/mol [9]. The thermal stability of the AlNiLa amorphous
alloys has been enhanced with increasing the La contents, and the
crystallization mode has also been changed from two-stage to
three-stage one [11]. Although, some efforts have been made to
enhance the GFA and thermal stability of Al-based amorphous
alloys, the improvement is insignicant. Mechanical alloying
(MA) is regarded as an effective process paralleling to the rapid
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mse_wangy@ujn.edu.cn (Y. Wang).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2015.05.028
0261-3069/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

solidication technique with specic advantages [12]. For the MA

method, the high cooling rate is not necessary, and the alloy composition can be more exible [13]. So far, quite a few Al-based
amorphous powders have been prepared by the MA technique
[1418].
Graphene (Gr), a perfect two-dimensional (2-D) lattice of
sp2-bonded carbon atoms [19,20], has recently attracted tremendous
attention due to its excellent properties, such as excellent thermal
conductivity (5000 W m1 K1), high Youngs modulus (1 TPa) and
fracture strength (125 GPa) [21,22]. Recently, A few studies about
inuence of Gr addition on the characteristics of metal alloys have
been reported [2325]. The addition of 0.18 wt.% Gr to Mg1 wt.%
Al1 wt.% Sn alloy leads to an increase in tensile strength (i.e., from
236 to 269 MPa) [23]. Shin et al. [24] selected multi-walled carbon
nanotube (MWCNT) and few-layer Gr as a reinforcing agent and
prepared aluminum matrix composites, showing that the yield
stress for Gr was 3.5 times higher than that of MWCNT. Yan
et al. [25] have reported that the Gr reinforced aluminum alloy
nanocomposite showed good mechanical properties.
However, little attention has been paid to the addition of Gr to
improve the GFA and thermal stability of Al-based amorphous
alloy. Thus, it is interesting to investigate how Gr affects the thermal stability and GFA of Al-based amorphous alloy. In this study,
the Al88Ni6Y6 alloys and the Gr are selected as the matrix and additional material, respectively. Using the MA method, we have
explored the effects of Gr addition on the amorphisation and thermal stability of the Al88Ni6Y6 composites, and attempted to discuss

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Z. Sun et al. / Materials and Design 81 (2015) 5964

the mechanism of minor addition. The consolidation process needs

to be optimized for obtaining amorphousnanophase composites
with a desirable structure and high thermal stability. In the present
study, the AlNiYGr amorphous composites with the high thermal
stability are very conducive to be consolidated into Al-based bulk
metallic glass (BMG) composite.
2. Experimental
Powder mixtures of elemental Al, Ni, Y, and Gr with nominal
compositions of Al88Ni6Y6 + x wt.% Gr (x = 0, 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8) were
mechanically alloyed in a high-energy ball mill (Fritsch P6) at a
rotation speed of 300 rpm (revolutions per minute). The chromium
steel vial and balls were used in the present work. MA was carried
out at room temperature in an Ar atmosphere with a
ball-to-powder weight ratio of 15:1. In order to avoid an increase
in the vial temperature, the milling procedure was periodically
interrupted every 0.5 h and then halted for 0.5 h. In addition, the
milling process was interrupted at various time intervals in order
to remove small amounts of the milled products for analysis and
characterization. Moreover, it needs to note that Gr used in the
present study has an BrunauerEmmettTeller (BET) surface area
of 700 m2/g and a purity of >99 wt.%, which was prepared by the
thermal expansion reduction of Gr oxides. The SEM image of Gr
is shown in Fig. 1, which presents the few-layer Gr nanosheets.
The phase constitution of the as-milled powders was identied
by X-ray diffraction (XRD, Rigaku D8 Advance) in the Bragg
Brentano geometry using Cu Ka radiation (k = 0.15406 nm).
Microstructural characterizations of the as-milled powders were
performed on a eld emission scanning electron microscopy
(FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) coupled with
selected area electron diffraction (SAED). The thermodynamic temperatures of the as-milled powders were investigated by the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC, Mettler-Toledo) at a heating rate
of 20 K min1 under a continuous ow of puried argon.
3. Results and discussions
Fig. 2 shows the XRD patterns of the as-milled Al88Ni6Y6 powders with different Gr additions after the selected MA times. At
the early stage of ball milling (40 h), the as-milled Al88Ni6Y6 is a
polycrystalline mixture, as indicated by the sharp Bragg-peaks corresponding to Al, Ni, Y2O3, and Al1.1Ni0.9 phases, as shown in
Fig. 2(a). With increasing the milling time up to 80 h, the Ni and
Y2O3 phases disappear. The as-milled powders are composed of

400 nm
Fig. 1. SEM image of additional Gr used in the present study.

Al and Al1.1Ni0.9 phases, and the corresponding diffraction peaks

become obviously broadening, indicating that the grain size gradually decreases, and the lattice strain increases. After 140 h of
MA, the diffraction pattern of Al88Ni6Y6 shows a broadly amorphous background, compared with the baseline (marked as the
dash line). However, two crystalline peaks from the reections of
(1 1 1), (2 0 0), (2 2 0) and (3 1 1) planes superimpose onto the broad
diffuse halo, indicating the formation of the face-centered cubic
(fcc) phases. Prolonging the milling time up to 200 h, a very broad
diffuse halo coexisting with few fcc-phases exists at 20 < 2h < 50,
implying the formation of the Al-based amorphous composite.
Fig. 2(b) presents that the microstructure evolution for the
as-milled Al88Ni6Y6 + 0.2 Gr wt.% powders is similar to the
as-milled Al88Ni6Y6 alloys free of Gr from the milling time 40
140 h. After the milling time of 200 h, the amorphous phase is
dominant in the as-milled powders together with only one
fcc-peak at about 45. In order to explore the mechanical stability
of the amorphous phase against MA, the powders with 0.2 Gr wt.%
addition were continuously milled from 240 to 280 h under the
same ball-milling condition. It presents that one weak crystal peak
still exists, and the milling products of Al88Ni6Y6 + 0.2 Gr wt.% consist of amorphous matrix and a few nanocrystals. The Al1.1Ni0.9
phases for the Al88Ni6Y6 + 0.5 Gr wt.% sample are not found after
the milling time of 40 h, compared to the 0.2 wt.% and free of Gr
additions (Fig. 2(c)). It suggests that the 0.5 wt.% Gr addition can
restrain the alloying reaction between the Al and Ni elements at
the initial milling time. However, a small amount of Al1.1Ni0.9
phases are formed after the MA time from 80 to 140 h. With the
increase of the MA time to 200 h, it shows the presence of a broad
diffuse hump with two fcc-peaks at about the 38 and 45.
Prolonging the milling time from 240 to 280 h, one crystal peak
at the lower angle (38) disappears. The milling product of the
0.5 Gr wt.% addition is still the amorphous composite with a small
amount of nanocrystals. The XRD patterns of the as-milled
Al88Ni6Y6 + 0.8 wt.% Gr powders presented in Fig. 2(d) are also similar to those for the 0.5 wt.% Gr addition (Fig. 2(c)) before the
milling time of 40 h. Prolonging the milling time from 80 to
140 h, the diffraction peak of Ni phase at about 76 disappears.
After 200 h of the MA, Al1.1Ni0.9 phases are formed, indicating that
the more additional contents of Gr can further delay the formation
of the Al1.1Ni0.9. In addition, a small amount of amorphous phases
appear together with Al phases. With increasing the milling time to
240 h, the amorphous background compared with the baseline
becomes broader and four fcc-peaks still exist. After the milling
time of 280 h, two crystal peaks at the higher angle disappear.
The amorphous composite with a few nanocrystals is obtained
by the 0.8 wt.% Gr addition. In order to qualitatively identify the
degree of amorphisation for the test alloys, the proportion of the
amorphous phase (mA) of the as-milled Al88Ni6Y6 + x wt.% Gr
(x = 0, 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8) powders after 200 h of the MA time was
calculated and are 82.5%, 85%, 80.7% and 52.8%, respectively. It is
obvious that the 0.2 wt.% Gr addition can acquire the largest mA
value of 85%, remarkably enhancing the amorphisation.
To verify the XRD results, the as-milled Al88Ni6Y6 + 0.8 wt.% Gr
alloy at 280 h of milling time was selected to be examined using
TEM and the corresponding SAED pattern, as shown in Fig. 3. The
as-milled particles present different sizes in the range of 0.21 lm
(Fig. 3(a)). It is also observed that the small particles aggregate
together and the particles have some distinct edges and corners
(Fig. 3(b)), indicating that the repeated cold-welding and fracture
happen during the ball-milling process. The corresponding SAED
pattern (Fig. 3(c)) is a diffuse halo, indicating the amorphous
nature of the particle. Fig. 3(d) presents another corresponding
SAED pattern, which consists of diffraction rings, indicative of the
nanocrystalline characteristic of the associated microstructure.
The different rings are indexed as (1 1 1), (2 0 0), and (2 2 0)

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Z. Sun et al. / Materials and Design 81 (2015) 5964

(a)

Al Y2O3 Ni Al1.1Ni0.9

(b)

fcc-AlNiY

Al Y2O3 Ni Al1.1Ni0.9

fcc-AlNiYGr

280 h
(111)
(200)

140 h
80 h

20

40

240 h
(200)

200 h

50

60

70

40 h

80

20

30

40

Al Y2O3 Ni Al1.1Ni0.9

(111)

240 h
(111)

(200)

30

40

50

60

70

80

Intensity (a.u.)

Intensity (a.u.)

20

60

70

80

fcc-AlNiYGr

280 h

200 h

40 h

50

Al Y2O3 Ni Al1.1Ni0.9

(d)

fcc-AlNiYGr

240 h

80 h

(200)

280 h

140 h

2 (degree)

2 (degree)

(c)

140 h
80 h

30

(331)

Baseline

40 h

(220)

Intensity (a.u.)

Intensity (a.u.)

200 h

80 h

140 h

40 h
20

30

(220)

200 h

(200)

40

50

60

(331)

70

80

2 (degree)

2 (degree)

Fig. 2. XRD patterns of the as-milled Al88Ni6Y6 + x wt.% Gr (x = 0, 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8) powders after the different milling times. (a) x = 0; (b) x = 0.2; (c) x = 0.5; and (d) x = 0.8.

(c)

(a)

(d)
200
(b)
111
220

Fig. 3. TEM images showing the microstructure of the as-milled Al88Ni6Y6 + 0.8 wt.% Gr (a and b) at 280 h of milling time. SAED patterns (c and d) corresponding to (b).

reections, verifying that the nanocrystalline phase has an

fcc-structure. Combined with XRD results in Fig. 2, it conrms that
the amorphous composites were fabricated, which consists of the
main amorphous matrix and a small amount of nanocrystals with
fcc structure.

Fig. 4 presents the DSC traces for the as-milled Al88Ni6Y6 + x

wt.% Gr (x = 0, 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8) alloys after 200 h of the MA time
at a heating rate of 20 K/min. It can be seen that each pattern
shows the obvious glass transition and one or two exothermic
peaks, further proving the formation of the amorphous structure

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Z. Sun et al. / Materials and Design 81 (2015) 5964

for the as-milled Al-based alloys. Moreover, the distinct double

exothermic peaks (marked by two arrows) can be observed for
Al88Ni6Y6 alloys corresponding to the two-step crystallization
mode after 200 h of the MA time. In general, it has been reported
that there often exist two exothermic peaks in the DSC curve for
the Al-based amorphous alloys [26,27]. However, the DSC curves
of the as-milled Al88Ni6Y6 + x wt.% Gr (x = 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8) alloys
at the milling time of 200 h present only one exothermic peak.
Thus, the Gr addition may be simplify the crystallization mode of
the as-milled Al88Ni6Y6 alloys.
The values of the glass transition temperature (Tg), the crystallization temperature (Tx), the crystallization peak temperature (Tp),
and the supercooled liquid region (dened as DTx = Tx1Tg) for the
as-milled AlNiY(Gr) powders after 200 h of the MA time are shown
in Table 1. On the whole, the Tg, Tx1, Tp1, and DTx values have the
distinct increase after the Gr addition for the Al-based amorphous
composites. It is obvious that the Tg value becomes the largest after
the 0.2 wt.% Gr addition, achieving 827 K, while 767 K for the
Al88Ni6Y6. However, the value of Tx1 for the 0.5 wt.% Gr addition
reaches 1131 K, being higher than these of other alloys, as shown
in Table 1. The values of Tp1 and DTx of AlNiYGr are more than
1140 K and 290 K, respectively, which are much higher than the
tested powders free Gr addition. It needs to note that the Tx values
of the AlNiYGr amorphous composites are more than 1100 K,
and remarkably higher than those (Tx1 and Tx2) of the as-milled
Al88Ni6Y6 amorphous composite. Generally, the Tx values for the
Al-based amorphous alloys, including the ribbons and rods, are less
than 850 K [16,2831]. So it suggests that the Gr addition can
induce the highly thermal stability of the Al-based amorphous
composites. Moreover, it is worth noting that the change of DTx
for AlNiYGr amorphous composites is the largest and reaches

Tx1

Tx2
Tp1

Tg

Exo Heat Flow (a.u.)

Tp2

x=0

Table 1
The values of Tg, Tx, Tp, and DTx for the as-milled Al88Ni6Y6 + x wt.% Gr (x = 0, 0.2, 0.5,
and 0.8) alloys after 200 h of the MA time at a heating rate of 20 K min1.
Alloys system

Tg (K)

Tx1 (K)

Tx2 (K)

Tp1 (K)

Tp2 (K)

DTx (K)

x=0
x = 0.2
x = 0.5
x = 0.8

767
827
811
764

819
1124
1131
1121

1023

849
1142
1141
1159

1049

52
297
320
357

above 300 K, which is much higher than the conventional

Al-based amorphous alloys, which lies in about 100 K [6,16,32,33].
The timetemperaturetransition diagram (TTT) built by an
isothermal processor a continuous heating transformation diagram
(CHT) [34,35] can be also necessary to represent the thermal stability of amorphous alloys. The heating time (th) can be calculated by
the following equation (Eq. (1)) [34]:

th

T  298
T  298
2
b
T expEa =RT C 1

where T is the specic temperature, R is the gas constant, C1 is a

constant, Ea is the activation energy for crystallization calculated
by the Kissinger equation [36], and b is the heating rate. Fig. 5
shows the CHT of the Al88Ni6Y6 + x wt.% Gr (x = 0, 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8)
alloys after 200 h of the MA time. As can be seen from Fig. 5, the
Al-based amorphous composites free Gr need at least more than
2.2914  109 ks or 72,660 years to begin to transform into crystals
under 600 K and the as-milled Gr additional alloys need longer time
than that, enhancing highly the thermal stability of the as-milled
Al88Ni6Y6 alloys. In addition, the curves of the alloys for the 0.5
and 0.8 wt.% Gr addition have a intersection at about 1060 K and
the corresponding transformation time prior to the 1060 K is called long-term scale. When they are placed in the same time prior to
the intersection, the 0.5 wt.% Gr addition alloy needs higher temperature to begin to transform into crystals than the 0.8 wt.% Gr
addition alloy, showing high thermal stability at a long-term scale.
The alloy for the 0.8 wt.% Gr addition showing high thermal stability
at a short-term scale loses its heat resistance, while heated at a low
heating rate, compared with the 0.5 wt.% Gr addition, i.e., the curve
exhibits quite a high-temperature gradient on a long-term scale.
The SEM images of the as-milled Al88Ni6Y6 + x wt.% Gr (x = 0,
0.2, 0.5, and 0.8) powders after 200 h of the MA time are shown
in Fig. 6. The morphologies of the as-milled Al88Ni6Y6 powders
are particle-like, and the particle size is uniform and lower than

x = 0.2

48

10

x=0
x = 0.2
x = 0.5
x = 0.8

44

10

Metastable nanocrystalline and

Residual amorphous phase

40

10

36

10

32

x = 0.5

Time (ks)

10

28

10

24

10

20

10

16

10

12

10

10

x = 0.8

10
10

600

800

1000

1200

1400

8
4

10 K/min

Amorphous phase

450

600

750

900

1050

1200

Temperature (K)

Temperature (K)
Fig. 4. DSC curves of as-milled Al88Ni6Y6 + x wt.% Gr (x = 0, 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8) alloys
after 200 h of the MA time at a heating rate of 20 K min1.

Fig. 5. CHT diagrams of the Al88Ni6Y6 + x wt.% Gr (x = 0, 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8) alloys after
200 h of the MA time, in which the dashed line represents a heating rate of
20 K min1. Note that the curves correspond to Tx1.

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Z. Sun et al. / Materials and Design 81 (2015) 5964

(a)

(b)

5 m

(c)

5 m

(d)

5 m

5 m

Fig. 6. SEM images of the as-milled powders (a) Al88Ni6Y6, (b) Al88Ni6Y6 + 0.2 wt.% Gr, (c) Al88Ni6Y6 + 0.5 wt.% Gr, and (d) Al88Ni6Y6 + 0.8 wt.% Gr after 200 h of the MA time.

3 lm (Fig. 6(a)). Compared to the as-milled Al88Ni6Y6 alloy, the

powder size becomes obviously ne after the 0.2 wt.% Gr addition,
as presented in Fig. 6(b). The agglomeration behavior becomes
serious and the particle size is uneven for the 0.5 and 0.8 wt.% Gr
addition (Fig. 6(c) and (d)). There are the large particles with the
size more than 5 lm, and the superne powder with less than
500 nm. Moreover, it can be clearly observed that the particles
have some distinct edges and corners, which is caused by the
repeated cold-welding and fracture during the ball-milling process.
Based on the above presented results, the Al-based amorphous
composite powders have been fabricated by the MA method. It is
interesting to clarify the formation accessibility of glass phases of
the amorphous composites in the present study.
It has indicated that the solid-state amorphisation reaction
needs to satisfy the two necessary conditions [37,38]: (1) from a
thermodynamic point of view, the system possesses a large negative heat of mixing, which provides a large difference of free energy
between the amorphous state and the crystalline state; and (2)
considering the dynamic factors, the composition is an asymmetric
diffusion couple, which ensures the inter-diffusion of the two elements leading to the formation of a metastable amorphous alloy. It
is known that graphene nanosheets are composed of a monolayer
of conjugated sp2 carbon atoms [19]. Therefore, in the present
study, we would use the intrinsic properties of carbon to discuss
the above results. Carbon has the negative heat of mixing
(DHmix) with Al (36 kJ/mol), Ni (39 kJ/mol), and Y
(117 kJ/mol) [39]. This trend implies that the AlNiYGr system
is easy to form an amorphous phase. In addition, the diffusion
asymmetry is most likely associated with the component-size difference. In the present system, the Goldschmidt radii of the constituent atoms are 0.178 nm for Y, 0.143 nm for Al, 0.124 nm for
Ni, and 0.077 nm for C. Therefore, the signicant atomic-size
differences between C and other constituent elements also imply

a marked asymmetry in diffusivity, which is the dynamic factor

in beneting amorphous phase formation for AlNiYGr alloys.
The 2-D geometry Gr possessing the high BET area due to overlapping could play an important role in enhancing mechanical
interlocking between the nanoller and matrix [40]. Generally,
the cold-welding and fracture occur during the ball-milling process,
making the powders rene and enhancing the surface activity.
However, the extremely low density of Gr leads to a larger volume
fraction for addition, which can reduce the efciency of the MA process. Moreover, it can restrain the atomic inter-diffusion, and also
induce a large amount of the crystal-lattice defect, would further
increase the needed free energy for the amorphisation.
According to the results shown in Fig. 4 and Table 1, a minor
addition of Gr into the Al88Ni6Y6 can greatly enhance the Tx1, Tp1,
and DTx values, which signicantly improves the thermal stability
of the Al-based amorphous composites. At present, the study on
molecular-dynamics simulations has shown that the Al-based
amorphous alloys had a low Tg and contained a large amount of
deformed body-centered cubic (bcc) short-range orders, while
the icosahedron is always predominant in the amorphous matrix
[41]. Moreover, these deformed-bcc short-range orders could make
up medium-range orders via some linkages, such as edge-, face-,
and intercrossed-shared atoms, which were believed to more
easily transform into the fcc nanocrystals, compared with the
icosahedral clusters due to the symmetrical similarity between
bcc and fcc structures. Based on this consideration, after the Gr
addition, the overlapping graphene sheets as a thermal insulator
and a mass linkage barrier can retard the permeation of heat and
the escape of metastable products, leading to the increase of their
thermal stability, which is the so-called tortuous path effect [42].
The radius ratio of constituted carbon atoms with other elements is RC/Al (0.54), RC/Ni (0.62), and RC/Y (0.43). The solute atoms
occupy interstitial sites, when R < 0.8 [43]. Therefore, additional

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Z. Sun et al. / Materials and Design 81 (2015) 5964

carbon atoms can occupy the interstitial space between the major
constituent atoms, increasing the stacking density of the alloy by
reducing the free volume. So the amorphous phases require the
higher energy to induce the crystallization, which can increase
the thermal stability of amorphous alloys [44]. It needs to reveal
that the special structures of Gr should be the most important factors to explain the ultrahigh thermal stability of AlNiYGr amorphous composites. Therefore, we will continue to systematically
study the interfacial structure reaction between Gr and matrix
elements during the MA process in the future.
4. Conclusions
In summary, the effect of Gr addition on the amorphisation and
thermal stability of the Al88Ni6Y6 alloys during MA process has been
investigated. The AlNiYGr amorphous composite powders with a
few nanocrystals can be obtained. 0.2 wt.% Gr addition can signicantly contribute to the formation of the more amorphous phases.
The Gr addition can simplify the crystallization mode of the
as-milled Al88Ni6Y6 amorphous composite and increase the Tx1 up
to 1100 K. Moreover, CHT diagram shows that the as-milled Gr
additional alloys can sustain the amorphous state over a long period
without crystallization compared with the as-milled Al88Ni6Y6
powders under continuous heating. Therefore, the Gr addition
design enhances the thermal stability of the as-milled Al88Ni6Y6
alloy, which is useful to fabricate Al-based BMG composites using
sinter method. The inuence mechanism of Gr addition has been
preliminarily discussed, based upon the DHmix, atomic-size mismatch, diffusion-asymmetry, and special structures of Gr.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the nancial support from the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51171072
and 51301076), Excellent Middle-age and Young Scientists
Research Award Foundation of Shandong Province (No.
BS2012CL002), and International cooperation training project of
excellent young and middle-aged teachers of Shandong Province.
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