Abnormal change of electrical resistivity in the Cu46Zr46Al8 bulk metallic glass during crystallization

Abstract

The crystallization of bulk metallic glass occurs with heat release, volume shrinkage, and electrical resistivity decrease because of the differences in properties between the glass and crystalline phases. A standard four-probe electrical resistivity measurement during the crystallization of the Cu46Zr46Al8 bulk metallic glass shows an abnormal increase of resistivity at the initial stage before the normal declining stage. High-density nanocrystals emerged in the matrix, which enhanced electron scattering and resulted in increasing of resistivity. The subsequent normal declining of resistivity was dominated by the growth of the nanocrystals. This high-density site-saturated nucleation followed by slow growth crystallization kinetics was supported by microstructure analysis with SEM and TEM.