SBIR Phase II: Economical Fabrication of Bulk Metallic Glass Sheets through Roll-Stretching

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是使大块金属玻璃（BMG）的广泛商业应用成为可能。BMG是一种新型的金属材料，与传统的合金有着根本的不同，并且比传统的合金更有优势。它们比大多数晶体金属更坚固，但同时可以像塑料一样成形。BMG的其他好处包括极高的零件精度，增加的复杂性和消除昂贵的加工。BMG的使用将为手表制造和精密机械、电子、生物医学、纳米压印、国防、航空航天和汽车等领域的制造商提供广泛的机会。目前阻碍BMG工业化的障碍是无法获得实用的原料材料，如BMG片材。作为该项目的一部分，我们正在开发的技术包括BMG板材制造和用于各种应用的最终部件的热塑性成型（TPF）。使用板材，制造商可以利用BMG独特的加工性能，通过热塑性成型方法以最高的精度和轻松程度制造复杂的形状。我们的技术也具有重大的社会影响。它将通过为创新的中小型美国公司带来一种新颖的制造技术，这种技术具有高度通用性，能源效率和低资本投资。该项目是基于最近的科学发现，BMG板制造使用热塑性成型技术。这是一种低力、高速率的变形方法，具有大规模商业制造的巨大潜力。我们希望我们的研究结果将导致更好地了解基于TPF的过程。具体而言，对于多步骤基于TPF的片材制造，所提出的工作将揭示工艺稳定性以及它如何受到工艺参数的影响。拟议的研究还将确定基于TPF的加工对BMG机械性能的影响，将有助于确定用于板材制造的合适BMG合金，并为其商业可行性提供见解。此外，拟议的工作也将提高BMG板制造的理论理解，并帮助开发一个可预测的和定量的模型描述。这样的模型可以允许在未来的工业环境中预测合金特定的加工条件。最后，该项目将导致在商业上可行的板制造工艺和设备的BMG板前所未有的大小。它将极大地促进大块金属玻璃在广泛应用中的机会，将二十年的学术发现带到商业竞技场。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is in enabling wide range of commercial applications of bulk metallic glasses (BMG). BMGs are novel metallic materials that are fundamentally different from, and advantageous to conventional alloys. They are stronger than most crystalline metals, but at the same time shapeable like plastics. Additional benefits of BMGs include extremely high precision of parts, increased complexity and elimination of expensive machining. Use of BMGs will provide broad opportunities for manufacturers in areas such as watch making and precision mechanics, electronics, biomedical, nano-imprint, defense, aerospace, and automotive. The current barrier to industrializing BMGs is non-availability of practical feedstock material such as BMG sheets. Technologies that we are developing as part of this project include BMG sheet fabrication and thermoplastic forming (TPF) of final components for a variety of applications. Using sheets, manufacturers can leverage BMGs unique processability to fabricate complex shapes at highest precision and ease through thermoplastic forming methods. Our technology also has significant societal implications. It will empower innovative small and medium size U.S. companies by bringing them a novel manufacturing technology that is highly versatile, energy efficient and low in capital investment. This project is based on the recent scientific discovery of BMG sheet fabrication using the thermoplastic forming technology. This is a low-force, high-rate deformation method with great potential for large-scale commercial manufacturing. We expect that our findings will lead to a better understanding of TPF-based processes. Specifically, for multi-step TPF-based sheet fabrication, the proposed work will reveal process stability and how it is affected by processing parameters. Proposed research will also determine the effects of TPF-based processing on mechanical properties of BMGs, will help identify suitable BMG alloys for sheet fabrication and provide insights into their commercial feasibility. In addition, the proposed work will also enhance theoretical understanding of BMG sheet fabrication and help develop a predictable and quantitative model description. Such models can allow prediction of alloy-specific processing conditions in industrial settings in the future. Finally, this project will result in a commercially viable sheet fabrication process and apparatus for BMG sheets of unprecedented sizes. It will significantly advance opportunities for bulk metallic glasses in a wide range of applications, bringing two decades of academic discoveries to the commercial arena.