Thermodynamic modeling of glass formation in metallic glasses

In the study of metallic glasses, it is vitally important for us to understand glass formation and glass forming ability (GFA). This letter presents a thermodynamic model for evaluating glass formation in metallic glasses. An expression has been derived from considering both the stability of amorphous phases and the resistance to the formation of crystalline intermetallic phases. This equation is very useful for identifying alloy compositions with good GFA in binary and other alloy systems. The prediction of this equation has been verified by the experimental study of glass formation and glass forming ability in the Zr-Cu system. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.