Crystallization Pathway in the Bulk Metallic Glass Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5

A new family of multicomponent metallic alloys exhibits an excellent glass forming ability at moderate cooling rates of about 10K/s and a wide supercooled liquid region. These glasses are eutectic or nearly eutectic, thus far away from the compositions of competing crystalline phases. The nucleation of crystals from the homogeneous amorphous phase requires large thermally activated composition fluctuations for which the time scale is relatively long, even in the supercooled liquid.

In the Zr_41.2Ti_13.8Cu_12.5Ni₁₀Be_22.5 alloy therefore a different pathway to crystallization is observed. The initially homogeneous alloy separates into two amorphous phases. In the decomposed regions, crystallization probability increases and finally polymorphic crystallization occurs.


Reference
S. Schneider, P. Thiyagarajan, U. Geyer and W. L. Johnson (1996). Crystallization Pathway in the Bulk Metallic Glass Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5. MRS Proceedings, 455 , 295 doi:10.1557/PROC-455-295