Abstract
The structure and mechanical properties of melt spun Al86Ni9Mm5 alloy ribbons in both as solidified amorphous and heat treated nanocomposite conditions were investigated using DSC, XRD, TEM, and Vickers microhardness techniques. Primary crystallisation of the amorphous alloy resulted in the formation of fine nanocrystalline fcc-Al particles embedded in an amorphous matrix forming a nanocomposite. The growth behaviour of the primary fcc-Al particles under isothermal conditions was investigated. The hardness ofthe composite varied with the solute content in the amorphous phase and the microstructure after heat treatment. The hardening in these nanocomposites was quantitatively explained using a rule of mixtures model based on the volume fraction of the amorphous matrix and the Al particles. The nanometre sized particles were treated as perfect materials and the matrix was treated as an amorphousmaterial, in which the solute concentration increased as the volume fraction of the Al particles increased. The calculated results for the heat treated specimens using the rule of mixtures based on the isostress model have been found to be in good agreement with the experimentally obtained results.
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