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“PREPARING
DUCTILE COPPER BASED BULK
METALLIC GLASSES IN
APPLICATION ENABLED SHAPES FOR
TARGETED INDUSTRIES” |
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This project advances new applications for copper. Bulk metallic
glasses (BMGs) have been developed by us and others
since the 1990s by designing complex multi-component alloys that can be
easily vitrified from the melt. These alloys have low melting temperatures near Due to their 2% elastic strain range (as compared to 0.2% for
crystalline materials) BMGs currently have the best
known values for the performance index σ2/E (where σ and E are
respectively the yield strength and Young’s modulus). These properties open a variety of
applications as springs (such as vehicle engine valve springs), pressure
gauges, suspensions, slat tracks for aircraft wings, micro-gears,
reinforcement of sporting goods, cell-phone casings, bullet proof jacket
linings, tools especially in biomedical industry and many others. Previously discovered BMGs often contained
several percent of copper but their development nevertheless already
contributes a small new demand for pure copper because BMGs
are most often prepared by casting into massive copper moulds. However, the members of the present project have recently discovered a
new class of Cu-based bulk metallic glasses with copper content in
the 60-65% range. These Copper-based BMGs show 2 GPa strength and extensive room-temperature ductility up
to 50% strain without fracture. No
other metallic material has ever shown such extensive room temperature
plasticity at such yield strength levels. According to the latest studies, demand for BMGs
in general could rise to about 40,000 tons/yr in the next ten years. Since
these alloys generally contain about 20% copper, this would lead to some 8,000
tons/yr of new demand for high purity copper. However, if as this project
aims at, the new families of copper-rich BMGs can
be further developed and made available for testing by interested industrial
players, it is possible that they will catch part of this market. In that
case the numbers will be closer to 15 to 20 kilo-tons/yr of copper without
consideration of the surge in demand for pure copper for the manufacturing of
the casting moulds. |
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All Rights Reserved, Copyrights(c)
2006, International Copper BMG Project Team |
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