Formation and mechanical properties of Zr-Ni-Al glassy alloys with high glass-forming ability

The addition of Al to a binary Zr75Ni25 alloy greatly increases the stabilization of the supercooled liquid as well as the glass-forming ability (GFA) in Zr75-xNi25Alx (x = 0-24) alloy series. The large supercooled liquid region (Delta T-x) of over 80 K and critical sample diameter (d(c)) for glass formation above 12 mm were obtained in a wide composition range of x = 11-19. The largest d(c) of 15 mm was fabricated for an off-eutectic Zr60Ni25Al15 alloy, which has the largest Delta T-x of 93 K and gamma value of 0.396. The bulk glassy alloys exhibited excellent mechanical properties, i.e., high compressive fracture strength of 1662-1958 MPa and large compressive plastic strain of 3.0-4.7%. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.