Medium-range structure and glass forming ability in Zr–Cu–Al bulk metallic glasses

Zhang, Pei; Maldonis, Jason J.; Besser, M. F.; Kramer, M. J.; Voyles, Paul M.

doi:10.1016/j.actamat.2016.02.006

Medium-range structure and glass forming ability in Zr–Cu–Al bulk metallic glasses

Journal Article · Sat Mar 05 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Acta Materialia

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2016.02.006· OSTI ID:1254301

Zhang, Pei ^[1]; Maldonis, Jason J. ^[1]; Besser, M. F. ^[2]; Kramer, M. J. ^[2]; ^[1]

Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
Ames Lab. and Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)

Fluctuation electron microscopy experiments combined with hybrid reverse Monte Carlo modeling show a correlation between medium-range structure at the nanometer scale and glass forming ability in two Zr–Cu–Al bulk metallic glass (BMG) alloys. Both Zr₅₀Cu₃₅Al₁₅ and Zr₅₀Cu₄₅Al₅ exhibit two nanoscale structure types, one icosahedral and the other more crystal-like. In Zr₅₀Cu₃₅Al₁₅, the poorer glass former, the crystal-like structure is more stable under annealing below the glass transition temperature, T_g, than in Zr₅₀Cu₄₅Al₅. Variable resolution fluctuation microscopy of the MRO clusters show that in Zr₅₀Cu₃₅Al₁₅ on sub-Tg annealing, the crystal-like clusters shrink even as they grow more ordered, while icosahedral-like clusters grow. Furthermore, the results suggest that achieving better glass forming ability in this alloy system may depend more on destabilizing crystal-like structures than enhancing non-crystalline structures.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Ames Laboratory (AMES), Ames, IA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-07CH11358

OSTI ID:: 1254301

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1357658
OSTI ID: 22554507

Report Number(s):: IS-J--8990; PII: S1359645416300799

Journal Information:: Acta Materialia, Journal Name: Acta Materialia Journal Issue: C Vol. 109; ISSN 1359-6454

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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