Metastability and thermophysical properties of metallic bulk glass forming alloys

The absence of crystallization over a wide time/temperature window can be used to produce bulk metallic glass by relatively slow cooling of the melt. For a number of alloys, including several multicomponent Zr-based alloys, the relevant thermodynamic and thermomechanical properties of the metastable glassy and undercooled liquid states have been measured below and above the glass transition temperature. These measurements include specific heat, viscosity, volume, and elastic properties as a function of temperature. As a result, it becomes obvious that the maximum undercooling for these alloys is given by an isentropic condition before an enthalpic or isochoric instability is reached. Alternatively, these glasses can also be produced by mechanical alloying, thus replacing the thermal disorder by static disorder and resulting in the same thermodynamic glass state. During heating through the undercooled liquid, a nanoscale phase separation occurs for most glasses as a precursor of crystallization.