Effect of element types on the glass forming ability of Al-TM-RE ternary metallic glasses using electron structure guiding

Abstract

The effect of TM (transition metal, Fe, Co, Ni) and RE (rare earth, La, Ce, Sm, Y, Gd, Er, Pr) element types on the glass forming ability (GFA) of Al86TM9RE5 ternary alloy system has been studied based on the concept of Fermi sphere - Brillouin zone interaction. The effect of TM element is primarily on the electron hybridization between Al atoms and TM atoms, affecting the diameter of the Fermi sphere (2KF). And the effect of RE element is mainly a change in the diameter of the pseudo-Brillouin zone (KP). Their effects on the Fermi level and Brillouin zone size are monitored using spectroscopy experiments. The |δ| = |KP-2KF| criterion was proposed to evaluate the effect of GFA on the TM and RE elements. This criterion guided us to select an optimal GFA element (Al86Ni9Y5) in the Al-TM-RE ternary alloy system and was confirmed by the experimental results.