Glass forming ability of bulk glass forming alloys

Abstract

In general, rapid quenching from the melt at cooling rates in the range of 10{sup 4} to 10{sup 6} K/s is required to obtain glass formation in metallic alloys. However, recent development have shown that bulk glass formation at cooling rates as low as {approximately}1 K/s can also be obtained in Zr, Mg, La, Nd, Ti, Cu and Fe based metallic alloy systems. Low cooling rates for bulk glass formation in these alloys indicate that they have a very high glass forming ability (GFA). Several parameters have been used to reflect the glass forming ability in metallic alloys as well as oxides in previous studies. It is of interest to determine the extent to which these established parameters can be used to predict easy glass formation in these newly found alloys.