Ce-Cu-Fe-Al-Si bulk metallic glass alloys with high glass forming ability

Abstract

New Ce-Cu-Fe-Al-Si bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) with high glass formation ability (GFA) and large supercooled liquid regions (ΔTx, ΔTx = Tx-Tg) were developed. Investigation shows that the addition of Fe and Si elements is very effective to improve the glass formation ability of Ce-based BMGs. For an optimizing composition, the ΔTx value is 95 K and the alloy can be prepared into bulk metallic glass rods with the diameters of at least 10mm. In the Ce-Cu-Al-Fe alloys, the glass transition temperature (Tg), crystallization temperature (TX) and ΔTx increase with increasing Fe content. The reduced glass transition temperature (T rg = Tg/T1) of the present BMG system is about 0.5-0.6 and is much lower than that of other metal base BMG systems with high GFA. Compressive fracture strength (σf) and Young's modulus (E) of the Ce-Cu-Al-Fe BMGs are ∼930MPa and ∼45 GPa, respectively, and increase with increasing Fe content. © 2005 The Japan Institute of Metals.