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Zr59.3Cu28.8Al10.4Nb1.5, also known as AMZ4, is one of the first commercially available glass forming alloys used for additive manufacturing. To fabricate AMZ4 metallic glasses in a laser powder-based fusion (PBF-LB) process under a microgravity environment, we developed a sounding rocket payload based on a gas flow-assisted powder deposition mechanism [1,2]. Beside probing the microstructure of the built samples by synchrotron X-ray microbeam, solidification behaviour of electrostatically levitated bulk material was studied using time-resolved X-ray diffraction. Structure periodicity was observed in fully glassy AMZ4 samples produced by a commercial PB-LBF system, which reflects the variation of cooling rates during layer deposition [3]. In contrast, crystalline fractions were found in the gas-aided deposition process, preferably occurring at the interlayer boundaries. Despite the higher oxygen content and cooling rate experienced, the crystalline phases formed appear similar to those observed in the levitation experiment. To further explore their origin, the first in-situ diffraction experiment has been carried out using a derivative of the sounding rocket payload, benefiting from the orientation-independent additive manufacturing capability.
References
[1] A. Zocca, J. Wilbig, A. Waske. et al., Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive Manufacturing Frontiers 1, 100018 (2022)
[2] C. Neumann, J. Thore, M. Clozel, J. Günster, J. Wilbig, and A. Meyer, Additive manufacturing of metallic glass from metal powder in space, under review (2023)
[3] J. P. Best, Z. Evenson, F. Yang, A.-C. Dippel, M. Stolpe, O.Gutowski, M. T. Hasib, X.-P. Li, and J. J. Kruzic, Appl. Phys. Lett., 115, 031902 (2019)