Solidification modeling of bulk amorphous alloys

Abstract

Classical heterogeneous nucleation theory coupled with DTA data has been used to closely estimate the crystallization behavior of continuously cooled bulk metallic glass (BMG) alloys. Continuous cooling transformation and time temperature transformation diagrams of three BMG alloys, Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5, Cu47Ti33Zr11Ni6Si1Sn2 and Mg65Cu25Y10 alloys, have been calculated. The critical cooling rates R, of three alloys were calculated to be 1.7 K/s, 242 K/s and 36 K/s for Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5, Cu47Ti33Zr11Ni6Si1Sn2 and Of Mg65Cu25Y10 alloys, respectively, which match well with the experimental values. We conclude that heterogeneous nucleation is more favorable than homogeneous nucleation for the formation of crystals during cooling of BMG alloy liquids. Our approach can be applied to the analyses of crystallization kinetics of BMG alloys with a wide range of critical cooling rates during continuous cooling as well as isothermal annealing.