Glass formation for iron-based alloys by combining kinetic and thermodynamic parameters

Abstract

The glass formation was intensively studied for Fe-based alloys. Parameters defining kinetics and thermodynamic behavior of crystallization were calculated using calorimetric measurements and physical properties of constituent elements. It is found that the critical cooling rate Rc estimated by combining kinetic and thermodynamic parameters highly correlates with measured Rc found in literatures with correlation coefficient R2=0.944, and alloy compositions with high melting enthalpy ΔHm can easily form glass even without high undercooling and high value of the β-parameter of Turnbull’s theory, revealing that the glass formation in this group of alloys is mostly controlled by growth limitation. This combination of kinetic and thermodynamic parameters can be used to determine alloy composition with good glass forming ability in Fe-based alloys just using physical properties of alloying elements and calorimetric measurements.