Amorphous Alloys Laboratory

Facility Description

The Amorphous Alloys Laboratory user facility is housed within the Materials Science and Technology Division, Group MST-8. At this facility, researchers can synthesize and characterize alloys in various metastable states.

The facility has a variety of high-energy powder attritors to prepare amorphous and nanocrystalline alloy powder. The powder can be characterized by x-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, optical microscopy, and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. High-purity alloys can be prepared by induction heating and melt levitation in a "silver boat."

A unique rotating-anode x-ray diffractometer, operating in the theta-theta mode (sample remains horizontal) enables structural studies in powders, solids, and molten alloys. The source of x-rays is an 18-kilowatt rotating-anode generator. A tungsten ribbon is used to heat the sample, in a vacuum, from room temperature to 2,700 degrees Centigrade, with a temperature resolution of plus or minus 1 degree Centigrade. The diffracted x-ray beam is detected by a Peltier-cooled solid-state detector. The data acquisition and data analysis is fully automated.

The capacity of metallic alloy to store hydrogen from the gas phase can be measured using a fully automated Sieverts apparatus. This apparatus, developed at Los Alamos, is unique in its cleanliness and pressure measurement accuracy and resolution.

Equipment in addition to what is listed above:

• Furnaces and fast quenching devices for the synthesis of amorphous alloys
• Mechanical testing frame for plasticity studies at temperatures between RT and 1600^oC
• Gloveboxes for the synthesis of alloys in controlled atmospheres
• Scanning differential calorimeters for measuring heats of reaction and transition temperatures
• Densitometer for measuring alloy densities (resolution 1 part in 1E5)
• Magnetic Hysteresigraph System for measuring the magnetic properties of soft ferromagnetic amorphous alloys
• Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy equipment for determining the elastic constants of materials for 4 to 800 K

Facility Access

Open

Last Update: 31 July 2003

Technical Contact
Ricardo Schwarz
MST-8
Mail Stop: K765
Phone: 505-667-8454
Fax: 505-667-8021
E-mail Address: rxzs@lanl.gov