Recent progress in quantifying glass-forming ability of bulk metallic glasses

The gamma parameter proposed by the authors has prompted a lot of new interests in quantifying glass-forming ability (GFA) of bulk metallic glasses (BMGs). As a result, many different GFA indicators/criteria have been suggested lately. Recent development in this area is summarized herein; it was found that all newly developed parameters can be grouped into three basic categories according to their definitions. Our statistical analysis, particularly the direct comparison with the or parameter developed by Park et al., shows that the universal GFA indicator gamma is still the best in terms of reliability and applicability. In addition, limitations of all the GFA parameters will be discussed, and future focuses in quantifying GFA of metallic systems will also be suggested. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.