In-situ observation of an unusual phase transformation pathway with Guinier-Preston zone-like precipitates in Zr-based bulk metallic glasses
- Nanjing Univ. of Science and Technology (China). Herbert Gleiter Inst. of Nanoscience, School of Materials Science and Engineering
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Dongguan (China). China Spallation Neutron Source, Branch, Inst. of High Energy Physics
- Nanjing Univ. of Aeronautics and Astronautics (China). College of Materials Science and Technology
- City Univ. of Hong Kong (China)
- Nanjing Univ. of Science and Technology (China). Herbert Gleiter Inst. of Nanoscience, School of Materials Science and Engineering; City Univ. of Hong Kong (China)
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
The pathway of amorphous-to-crystalline phase transformation in Zr52.5Cu17.9Ni14.6Al10Ti5 bulk metallic glasses was studied using a suite of in-situ techniques. Multi-scale structure evidence reveals a five-stage pathway, analogous to the non-equilibrium transformation process with Guinier-Preston zones during aging in precipitation-hardened alloys, by the following sequence upon isothermal annealing the alloy in the supercooled liquid region: polyamorphous phase transition, chemical phase separation, the formation of a poorly-ordered metastable phase, and the formation of a final crystalline product. The changeable incubation periods at different annealing temperatures, and the abrupt multi-scale structure changes, as well as a latent heat release in the calorimetric measurements, support the first-order nature of the phase transformation at early stages. The structure evolution in real-space indicates that the enhancement of cluster connectivity on the medium-range scale plays essential roles in the early stages of the phase transformation, while the interface-limited ordering dominates the later stages. The experimental results suggest the phase transformation pathway with "Guinier-Preston zone-like" precipitates accompanied by the kinematic development of core-shell structures of diffuse interfaces with order parameters gradients, enabling the step-by-step decrease of free energy of the alloy system during phase transformation, which might be a universal behavior for alloys with excellent glass-forming ability.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- Contributing Organization:
- Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong; National Natural Science Foundation of China; National Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 1601430
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1702830
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Vol. 819, Issue C; ISSN 0925-8388
- Publisher:
- ElsevierCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
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