Directed changing properties of amorphous and nanostructured metal alloys with help of nanosecond laser impulses

Abstract

Amorphous and amorphous-nanocrystalline metal alloys have a great potential for practical use. The unique properties of such alloys are in demand in metallurgy, mechanical engineering, aviation, nuclear engineering, etc. [1–3]. Such materials are used in various fields of technical electronics, are part of structural composites, corrosion-resistant equipment elements, and so on. The practical use of amorphous alloys is expanding. Unfortunately, a significant part of the new amorphous alloys, especially bulk amorphous alloys, has a high cost. In this regard, amorphous iron-based alloys are of particular interest, since in addition to good performance properties [4], such alloys are relatively cheap. The creation of new methods for forming the properties of amorphous iron-based alloys will expand the scope of their practical use. Common and standardized methods for optimizing the properties of conventional metal alloys are constantly being improved, but they can rarely be applied to amorphousnanocrystalline structures [5–9]. The attempt to apply standard processing methods leads either to the mechanical destruction of such materials, or to the destruction of their structural state. As a rule, in amorphous nanocrystalline materials, the plastic characteristics significantly decrease with an increase in the microhardness index HV. For example, in the process of thermostatic, the material passes into the nanocrystalline/crystalline state, and the main factor affecting the reduction of the plastic characteristic is a decrease in the proportion of the amorphous phase and formation of nanocrystals [1–3, 10]. Superhard amorphous-nanocrystalline materials are usually brittle. Additional processing by classical methods of influencing the structure of the material dramatically reduces the useful properties, and in