Negentropic stabilization of metastable β-Ti in bulk metallic glass composites

In order to obtain metastable β-type bulk metallic glass composites (BMGCs), understanding the thermodynamic stability of the β phase is crucial. The interface between β-Ti and the supercooled liquid in BMGCs is revealed to play an important role on stabilizing metastable β-Ti during solidification. Additional interfacial energy hampers the formation of α-Ti laths at the interface, and the critical cooling rate required to suppress the transformation from β-Ti to α-Ti in BMGCs is reduced. The result implies that metastable β-Ti in BMGCs is prone to precipitate ω-Ti rather than α-Ti, which is significant on understanding the microstructures of β-type BMGCs.

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