The effect of rare-earth (Sm) microalloying on the thermal stability and phase selection along with the effect of nanocrystallization on the mechanical properties of amorphous melt-spun ribbons of Zr₅₀Cu₄₀Al₁₀, Zr₄₉Cu_39.2Al_9.8Sm₂ and Zr₄₈Cu_38.4Al_9.6Sm₄ alloys were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Vickers and nanoindentation hardness tests and micropillar compression analysis. XRD and TEM analyses showed that all samples were fully amorphous in as-spun state; however, crystallization sequences for the Sm-free and the Sm micro-alloyed samples were different during devitrification. Combined study of XRD, DSC and TEM on melt-spun ribbons show that Zr₄₈Cu_38.4Al_9.6Sm₄ have nanocrystallization of Cu₂Sm phase with an average diameter of 10 nm, which was absent in Zr₅₀Cu₄₀Al₁₀, prior to crystallization of Cu₁₀Zr₇ phase. The nanoindentation and micropillar compression tests revealed Cu₂Sm nanocrystals embedded in Zr₄₈Cu_38.4Al_9.6Sm₄ alloy improves strength and hardness. On the other hand, presence of these nanocrystals deteriorate shear band stability and thus result in a catastrophic brittle fracture through a single shear band burst.

稀土微合金化对热稳定性和相选择的影响以及纳米晶化对Zr ₅₀ Cu ₄₀ Al ₁₀，Zr ₄₉ Cu _39.2 Al _9.8 Sm ₂和Zr ₄₈ Cu _38.4 Al _9.6 Sm ₄使用差示扫描量热法（DSC），X射线衍射（XRD），透射电子显微镜（TEM），维氏和纳米压痕硬度测试以及微柱压缩分析对合金进行了研究。XRD和TEM分析表明，所有样品在初生状态下都是完全非晶态的。但是，在失透过程中，无Sm和Sm微合金化样品的结晶顺序是不同的。XRD，DSC和TEM在熔纺带上的联合研究表明，Zr ₄₈ Cu _38.4 Al _9.6 Sm ₄具有Cu ₂ Sm相的纳米晶，平均直径为10 nm，这是Zr ₅₀ Cu ₄₀ Al _10中不存在的。在结晶Cu ₁₀ Zr ₇相之前。纳米压痕和微柱压缩试验表明，嵌入Zr ₄₈ Cu _38.4 Al _9.6 Sm ₄合金中的Cu ₂ Sm纳米晶体提高了强度和硬度。另一方面，这些纳米晶体的存在降低了剪切带的稳定性，因此通过单个剪切带的破裂而导致灾难性的脆性断裂。