Heating rate dependence of Tg and Tx in Zr-based BMGs with characteristic structures

Heating rate dependence of glass transition and crystallization temperatures is applicable for evaluation of glass structural stability and also for discussion on the apparent activation energies for glass transition and crystallization. The glass-structure stabilities of the Zr-based BMGs (Zr50Cu40Al10, Zr70Cu20Al10 and Zr70Ni20Al10) and the conventional amorphous alloys (Zr70Cu30 and Zr70Ni30) are assessed by the densely packed glass structure as well as the complicated crystallization process. By the reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) simulation with X-ray and neutron diffraction data, it is shown that the densely packed structure is built by icosahedron-like clusters. In Zr65Al7.5Ni10Pd17.5 and Zr65Al7.5Ni10Cu17.5, the effect of Pd atoms on the glass structure is also described. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.