Enhancing glass-forming ability via frustration of nano-clustering in alloys with a high solvent content

• Published in: Scientific reports 2013-06, Vol.3 (1), p.1983-1983, Article 1983
• Main Authors: Li, H. X., Gao, J. E., Wu, Y., Jiao, Z. B., Ma, D., Stoica, A. D., Wang, X. L., Ren, Y., Miller, M. K., Lu, Z. P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 639/301/1023/1026; 639/301/119/997; 639/301/923/218; 639/766/25; Aluminum alloys; APPLIED PHYSICS; CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; Crystallization; Enthalpy; GLASSES; Humanities and Social Sciences; Iron alloys; MAGNETIC PROPERTIES AND MATERIALS; MATERIALS SCIENCE; METALS AND ALLOYS; multidisciplinary; Nucleation; Science; Science & Technology - Other Topics; VOCs; Volatile organic compounds
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep01983

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.