The improvement of the plasticity of a Zr-Ni-Al bulk metallic glass by static quenching

A method of static quenching has been put forward to prepare the Zr-based bulk metallic glass (BMG) in this work. Compared with the traditional method of copper mold suction casting, the compressive plasticity of Zr60Ni25Al15 BMG can be improved from nearly 0 to 6.5% through the method of static quenching. An underlying reason of the improved plasticity has been clarified as that the cooling rate of static quenching is larger than that of copper mold suction casting, and there are more soft spots in the static quenching sample than suction casting. The corresponding mechanism has also been discussed.

Automated summary

A method of static quenching has been proposed for the preparation of Zr-based bulk metallic glass (BMG) in this study. The compressive plasticity of Zr60Ni25Al15 BMG can be significantly improved from almost 0 to 6.5% using the static quenching method. The improved plasticity is attributed to the higher cooling rate and the presence of more soft spots in the static quenching sample compared to suction casting.