Microstructure and Mechanical Property of Nanocrystalline NiZr_2 Intermetallic Compound

Single-phase NiZr2 intermetallic compound nanocrystalline samples were synthesized by fully crystallizing the parent amorphous NiZr2 alloy at the temperature interval of 653~1073 K for a certain period of time. High resolution electron microscope (HREM) observations on the nanophase NiZr2 reveal a Iamellar nano-tWin structure with (110) direction on the nanometer scale, being typically a few interatomic distances to a few nanometers. Microhardness measurements on the single-phase NiZr2 samples indicate that the hardness of nanotwinned NiZr2 is obviously increased in comparison to the amorphous counterpart. When the average grain size increases from 19.1 to 93.9 nm, the variation of the hardness with the average grain size obeys the normal Hall-Petch relation, whereas as the average grain size is smaller than 19.1 nm. the microhardness data deviate from the above relation.