Binary Ni-Nb bulk metallic glasses

We studied the glass forming ability of Ni-Nb binary alloys and found that some of the alloys can be prepared into bulk metallic glasses by a conventional Cu-mold casting. The best glass former within the compositional range studied is off-eutectic Ni62Nb38 alloy, which is markedly different from those predicted by the multicomponent and deep eutectic rules. The glass formation mechanism for binary Ni-Nb alloys was studied from the thermodynamic point of view and a parameter gamma* was proposed to approach the ability of glass formation against crystallization. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.