Crystallization behavior of Zr60Cu20Fe10Al10 amorphous alloy

•Thermal stability of Zr60Cu20Fe10Al10 amorphous alloy.•Crystallization kinetics of Zr60Cu20Fe10Al10 amorphous alloy.•In situ TEM used to verify the correctness of the Avrami analysis results. The crystallization behavior of Zr60Cu20Fe10Al10 amorphous alloy was studied using non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry. The overall crystallization activation energies determined using the Kissinger and Ozawa methods were 240.9 ± 6.4 and 241.2 ± 6.0 kJ/mol, respectively. The local activation energies, which were calculated using the Ozawa–Flynn–Wall method, indicated a three-stage crystallization process. The local Avrami exponents were calculated to characterize the competition between crystallite nucleation and growth. In situ heating transmission electron microscopy observations confirmed the theoretical predictions.