Abstract
Composites comprising various volume fractions of crystalline nickel and bulk amorphous (BA) were produced by means of electroless coating of nickel on BA powder of $Cu_{54}Ni_6Zr_{22}Ti_{18}$ and subsequent spark plasma sintering (SPS) of coated BA powder. The flow curves of composites at various temperatures in the supercooled liquid region were determined by the uniaxial compression test with various strain rates. During compression at $450^{\circ}C$ with $\dot{\varepsilon}=2\times10^{-3}$, the monolithic BA sample and crystalline-BA composites displayed the superplastic deformation with $\varepsilon>1.4$. At temperatures above $460^{\circ}C$, the stress-strain curve of the monolithic BA sample depicted a sharp peak stress and a fellowing stress drop due to cracking, while those of the crystalline-BA composites displayed work-hardening up to the imposed strain. FEM analysis indicated that a fairly homogeneous strain state prevailed throughout the composite, while a higher level of stress was obtained in a harder BA.
