A technique for the measurement of Young's modulus of small metallic glass samples

Metallic glasses are frequently prepared by the arc-melting piston-and-anvil quenching process for refractory or reactive metallic glasses; where melt spinning is not readily applicable, this technique is presently the principal preparation method. It produces small alloy disks which rectangular samples with typically approx 1.5 cm length can be cut. These samples are too short to allow precise measurements of the sound velocity VE, and thus the Young's modulus. The impulse-induced (I.I.R.) technique, developed by Fowler and co-workers, has been applied such short glassy metal specimens. This technique uses the same experimental arrangement as that used for pulse echo measurements of VE, although the technique for measuring time for pulse echo measurements differs from that typically used.7 refs.--AA