A Review of the Preparation, Machining Performance, and Application of Fe-Based Amorphous Alloys

Amorphous alloy is an emerging metal material, and its unique atomic arrangement brings it the excellent properties of high strength and high hardness, and, therefore, have attracted extensive attention in the fields of electronic information and cutting-edge products. Their applications involve machining and forming, make the machining performance of amorphous alloys being a research hotspot. However, the present research on amorphous alloys and their machining performance is widely focused, especially for Fe-based amorphous alloys, and there lacks a systematic review. Therefore, in the present research, based on the properties of amorphous alloys and Fe-based amorphous alloys, the fundamental reason and improvement method of the difficult-to-machine properties of Fe-based amorphous alloys are reviewed and analyzed. Firstly, the properties of amorphous alloys are summarized, and it is found that crystallization and high temperature in machining are the main reasons for difficult-to-machine properties. Then, the unique properties, preparation and application of Fe-based amorphous alloys are reviewed. The review found that the machining of Fe-based amorphous alloys is also deteriorated by extremely high hardness and chemical tool wear. Tool-assisted machining, low-temperature lubrication assisted machining, and magnetic field-assisted machining can effectively improve the machining performance of Fe-based amorphous alloys. The combination of assisted machining methods is the development trend in machining Fe-based amorphous alloys, and even amorphous alloys in the future. The present research provides a systematic summary for the machining of Fe-based amorphous alloys, which would serve as a reference for relevant research.