Role of aluminum as an oxygen-scavenger in zirconium based bulk metallic glasses

In order to investigate a way to diminish the impact of oxygen onto the critical cooling rate of Zr-based alloys, the bonding chemistry of the elements in Zr-Cu-Ni-Al-Nb-Si bulk metallic glasses with different oxygen contents is studied by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Complementary undercooling experiments lead to continuous-cooling-transformation diagrams for the studied alloys. The experimental results demonstrate that Al not only acts as a scavenger for both absorbed and intrinsic oxygen but the dissolution of its oxide on atomic length scales refrains from heterogeneous nucleation. The combined effect is an enhancement of oxygen tolerance in the investigated alloy.