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Understanding the Glass-forming Ability of Cu50Zr50 Alloys in Terms of a Metastable Eutectic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

W.H. Wang*
Affiliation:
Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, People’s Republic of China
J.J. Lewandowski
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106
A.L. Greer
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3QZ, United Kingdom
*
a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Interest in finding binary alloys that can form bulk metallic glasses has stimulated recent work on the Cu–Zr system, which is known to show glass formation over a wide composition range. This work focuses on copper mold casting of Cu50Zr50 (at.%), and it is shown that fully amorphous rods up to 2-mm diameter can be obtained. The primary intermetallic phase competing with glass formation on cooling is identified, and the glass-forming ability is interpreted in terms of a metastable eutectic involving this phase. Minor additions of aluminum increase the glass-forming ability: with addition of 4 at.% Al to Cu50Zr50, rods of at least 5-mm diameter can be cast fully amorphous. The improvement of glass-forming ability is related to suppression of the primary intermetallic phase.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2005

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