Decomposition of metallic Zr-Cu-Ni glass

Recently, a novel class of metallic glasses characterized by the appearance of a wider supercooled liquid region exceeding 60 K, as exemplified for La-Al-Ni, Zr-Ti-Ni-Cu-Be, Zr-Al-Ni, Zr-Cu-Ni-Al and Zr-Ti-Ni-Cu-Al, have attracted much attention due to their exceptional good glass forming ability. It is of interest to note that all above-mentioned alloy systems contain Ni, which plays an important role in producing the above bulk amorphous alloys. Therefore, an in-depth study is necessary to achieve a better understanding of the glass forming ability of Zr-Cu-Ni alloys, which may provide some useful information for alloy design in the development of new bulk metallic glasses. Unfortunately, no experimental studies have been carried out although there have been some thermodynamic calculations. Thus, the aim of this work was to investigate the crystallization behavior of an amorphous Zr sub 70 Cu sub 20 Ni sub 10 alloy.