A thermodynamic approach towards glass-forming ability of amorphous metallic alloys

A quantitative measure of the stability of a glass as compared to its corresponding crystalline state can be obtained by calculating the thermodynamic parameters, such as the Gibbs free energy difference (Delta G), entropy difference (Delta S) and the enthalpy difference (Delta H) between the super-cooled liquid and the corresponding crystalline phase. Delta G is known as the driving force of crystallization. The driving force of crystallization (Delta G) provides very important information about the glass-forming ability (GFA) of metallic glasses (MGs). Lesser the driving force of crystallization more is the GFA. The Delta G varies linearly with the critical size (d (c)). According to Battezzati and Garonne the parameter gamma ( = ( 1-(Delta H (x) /Delta H (m))/(1-(T (x) /T (m)))) in the expression for Delta G should be a constant (i.e., 0.8), but its uniqueness is not observed for all MGs. The thermal stability of various alloy compositions is studied by their undercooled liquid region (Delta T = T (x) -T (g)). Large Delta T (x) implies greater stability against crystallization of the amorphous structure. Other GFA parameters are also calculated and correlated with critical size (d (c)).