title: Compositional landscape for glass formation in metal alloys.
abstract: A high-resolution compositional map of glass-forming ability (GFA) in the Ni-Cr-Nb-P-B system is experimentally determined along various compositional planes. GFA is shown to be a piecewise continuous function formed by intersecting compositional subsurfaces, each associated with a nucleation pathway for a specific crystalline phase. Within each subsurface, GFA varies exponentially with composition, wheres exponential cusps in GFA are observed when crossing from one crystallization pathway to another. The overall GFA is shown to peak at multiple exponential hypercusps that are interconnected by ridges. At these compositions, quenching from the high-temperature melt yields glassy rods with diameters exceeding 1 cm, whereas for compositions far from these cusps the critical rod diameter drops precipitously and levels off to 1 to 2 mm. The compositional landscape of GFA is shown to arise primarily from an interplay between the thermodynamics and kinetics of crystal nucleation, or more precisely, from a competition between driving force for crystallization and liquid fragility.
authors.affiliation: Glassimetal Technology Inc., Pasadena, CA 91107; and.
authors.forename: Jong Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Na
authors.affiliation: Glassimetal Technology Inc., Pasadena, CA 91107; andKeck Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125.
authors.forename: Marios D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Demetriou
authors.affiliation: Glassimetal Technology Inc., Pasadena, CA 91107; and.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Floyd
authors.affiliation: Keck Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hoff
authors.affiliation: Glassimetal Technology Inc., Pasadena, CA 91107; and.
authors.forename: Glenn R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Garrett
authors.affiliation: Glassimetal Technology Inc., Pasadena, CA 91107; andKeck Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 wlj@caltech.edu.
authors.forename: William L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Johnson
keywords: amorphous alloy; glass transition; metallic glass; viscosity