title: Enhancing glass-forming ability via frustration of nano-clustering in alloys with a high solvent content.
abstract: The glass-forming ability (GFA) of alloys with a high-solvent content such as soft magnetic Fe-based and Al-based alloys is usually limited due to strong formation of the solvent-based solid solution phase. Herein, we report that the GFA of soft magnetic Fe-based alloys (with >70 at.% Fe to ensure large saturation magnetization) could be dramatically improved by doping with only 0.3 at.% Cu which has a positive enthalpy of mixing with Fe. It was found that an appropriate Cu addition could enhance the liquid phase stability and crystallization resistance by destabilizing the α-Fe nano-clusters due to the necessity to redistribute the Cu atoms. However, excessive Cu doping would stimulate nucleation of the α-Fe nano-clusters due to the repulsive nature between the Fe and Cu atoms, thus deteriorating the GFA. Our findings provide new insights into understanding of glass formation in general.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: H X
authors.initials: HX
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Z B
authors.initials: ZB
authors.lastname: Jiao
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Stoica
authors.forename: X L
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Z P
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Lu