Synthesis and characterization of a multicomponent Fe-based bulk amorphous alloy

A new bulk metallic glass (BMG) Fe60B15Zr10Co7Mo5.5Y2Si0.5 was synthesized by Cu mold casting. The alloy was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) techniques. The thermal stability and glass-forming ability (GFA) of the alloy have been discussed by evaluating a number of thermal parameters. The maximum values of the key thermal parameters like T-rg (T-g/T-m, T-g/T-I), gamma, delta and beta parameters were found to be similar to(0.66,0.64), 0.407, 1.84 and 3.83, respectively. The alloy showed double stage crystallization process. The activation energies for crystallization were found to be 606.6 and 623.1 kJ/mol by Kissinger and Ozawa equations, which indicate the high thermal stability. Crystallization behavior of the alloy was explored by XRD. Mechanical properties like Vicker's hardness, nanohardness and elastic modulus are found to be very promising. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.