Abstract
Cu-based bulk amorphous alloy billets fabricated by a powder metallurgy route were studied, focusing on the effect of consolidation temperature on the microstructural and compressive properties. Rapidly solidified amorphous powders were produced by commercial atomization method. In order to consolidate amorphous alloy billets, a spark plasma sintering (SPS) equipment was set up, and variables for hot consolidation were investigated. Using the consolidation temperature of $480^{\circ}C$ under the pressure of 80 MPa, a good quality amorphous alloy billet having very few micropores or crystalline phase particles was obtained. Compressive strength of the billet was 1.8 GPa, which was about 6% lower than that of the cast amorphous alloy. This reduction was associated with the existence of few micropores, crystalline phase particles, and oxide layers of prior powder boundaries in the billet. Amorphous matrix composite billets containing Cu particles homogeneously distributed in the amorphous matrix were successfully fabricated by the SPS consolidation. These composite billet showed a considerable amount of plastic strain, although their compressive strength was reduced.