Electromagnetic forming of metallic glasses using a capacitive discharge and magnetic field

摘要

An apparatus and method of uniformly heating, rheologically softening, and thermoplastically forming metallic glasses rapidly into a net shape using a rapid capacitor discharge forming (RCDF) tool in combination with an electromagnetic force generated by the interaction of the applied current with a transverse magnetic field. The RCDF method utilizes the discharge of electrical energy stored in a capacitor to uniformly and rapidly heat a sample or charge of metallic glass alloy to a predetermined “process temperature” between the glass transition temperature of the amorphous metal and the equilibrium melting point of the alloy in a time scale of several milliseconds or less, at which point the interaction between the electric field and the magnetic field generates a force capable of shaping the heated sample into a high quality amorphous bulk article via any number of techniques including, for example, injection molding, dynamic forging, stamp forging, and blow molding in a time scale of less than one second.

主权项

1. A method of rapidly heating and shaping an amorphous metal using electrical energy discharge in the presence of a magnetic field generating an electromagnetic force comprising:
providing at least one sample of amorphous metal, said sample having a substantially uniform cross-section; discharging a quantum of electrical energy uniformly through each of said samples along an electric field axis to uniformly heat the sample to a liquid processing temperature above the glass transition temperature of the metallic glass; applying a magnetic field transverse to the electric field axis to generate an electromagnetic deformational force to shape the heated sample to form an article; and cooling said article to a temperature below the glass transition temperature of the amorphous metal to produce an amorphous article.