Mechanical Behavior of Phase-Separated Zr-Al-Fe-Y Metallic Glasses for Prospective Implant Applications

Oral talk at DPG Spring Meeting of the Condensed Matter Section (SKM) in Regensburg, Germany, March 15-21, 2025 Phase separation arises from the substitution of Y in Zr70-xAl12.5Fe17.5Yx (x=0-25 at.%) metallic glasses (MGs), resulting in the formation of nano-amorphous domains within a glassy matrix. The glasses with x > 10 show a typical liquid phase separation-induced two-glassy phase (Zr-rich and Y-rich) morphology with droplet-like microstructures. Atom probe tomography (APT) analysis confirms the formation of nanometer-sized Y-enriched clusters for x=15 and 20. The micro-hardness and nano-hardness are found to be in the range of 4.58-5.73 GPa and 5.22-6.11 GPa. The Zr-based MGs exhibit Young’s moduli in the range of 81-91 GPa, which are lower than that of Co-Cr-Mo, 316L SS and Ti-6Al-4V commercial implant alloys. Evaluation of the cytocompatibility of the MG ribbons reveals high metabolic activity and well-spread human gingival fibroblast (HGF) cells on thesurface of x=10 and 15 samples. Thus, the two glassy-phase Zr-based MGs free of toxic elements (Ni and Cu) exhibit suitable mechanical properties and biocompatibility for implant applications.