The glass transition during liquid metal solidification exemplified by a Zr-based glass-forming alloy: Experiments and numerical simulations

Abstract

By using Zr41.2Ti13.8Ni10Cu12.5Be22.5 (Vit1) bulk metallic glass with a defined cooling history, the heat capacity (Cp) of liquid and glass, and the calorimetric glass transition in differential scanning calorimetry experiments were investigated. Then, a thermal equilibrium model related to the melting and solidifying process was established to extrapolate the solidification glass transition (SGT) temperature range during liquid to glassy solid phase transformation. By using the extrapolated SGT temperature range, the thermodynamic parameters, including the Cp and thermal conductivity (λ), were adjusted, which can make the simulated cooling temperature curves accurately reflect the recorded ones. The coincidence of experimental and simulation results indicates the rationality of the thermal equilibrium model established in the present work. Furthermore, it is proposed that the SGT is resulted from the falling out-of-equilibrium of the undercooled liquid metal that acts as an endothermic trap to suppress the occurrence of recalescence.