Ion beam mixing to study the metallic glass formation of the Cu–Zr system

An ion beam mixing experiment for Cu–Zr system was conducted and two supersaturated solid solutions were observed with compositions of 16 atom% Zr in Cu and 17 atom% Cu in Zr, respectively, which are much greater than almost nil found from the equilibrium phase diagram of Cu–Zr system. The observation indicates that Cu–Zr metallic glasses could possibly be obtained in composition range bounded by the two observed solid solubilities, i.e. 16–83 atom% Zr. Besides, a unique Cu 65Zr 35 metallic glass was obtained by ion beam mixing and its composition is very close to the so-called best composition referred in the literature.