Crystallisation behaviour of CU60Zr30Ti10, bulk glassy alloy

The crystallisation behaviour in the Cu60Zr30Ti10 alloy was studied. The as-quenched Cu60Zr30Ti10 alloy consists of homogeneously dispersed nanocrystals in the glassy matrix. Two metastable crystalline phases appear prior to the precipitation of equilibrium phases, which correspond to the three exothermic peaks in the DSC curve. After the first exothermic reaction, the nanometer-sized CuZr phase is precipitated in the glassy matrix. In the second exothermic peak, the CuZr phase transforms to a metastable cubic phase with a large lattice parameter of 1.265 nm. Finally, this metastable phase is decomposed to Cu10Zr7, Cu8Zr3 and Cu3Ti2 equilibrium phases. The Cu10Zr7 and Cu8Zr3 phases contain Ti while the Cu3Ti2 phase contains Zr. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.