Glass-forming ability, thermal stability of B2 CuZr phase, and crystallization kinetics for rapidly solidified Cu–Zr–Zn alloys

• Minor Zn addition can enhance the glass-forming ability (GFA) of CuZr-based alloys.
• λ + (Δh)1/2 amorphization criterion can explain the effect of Zn addition on GFA.
• B2 CuZr phase can be stabilized to low temperature with Zn addition.
• B2 crystals become one of crystalline products for Cu–Zr–Zn metallic glasses.
• Crystallization kinetics of Cu–Zr–Zn metallic glasses was studied.

The glass-forming ability (GFA) of (Cu0.5Zr0.5)100-xZnx (x = 1.5, 2.5, 4.5, 7, 10, and 14 at %) metallic glasses (MGs) was studied. With increasing Zn content, the GFA of CuZr-based MGs gradually increases, enabling the fabrication of Cu–Zr–Zn bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) and metallic glass matrix composites. The enhancement of GFA with Zn addition to the CuZr binary alloy is well explained by considering topological instability and electronic criteria. Upon annealing of Cu–Zr–Zn MGs Cu10Zr7 and subsequent CuZr2 crystals precipitate in the glassy matrix, being followed by the nucleation of B2 CuZr crystals. It is shown that Zn addition can effectively stabilize B2 CuZr phase to lower temperatures. Analysis of the crystallization kinetics of Cu–Zr–Zn MGs under isothermal conditions shows that the dominated crystallization mechanism is the interface-controlled two- or three-dimensional growth with different nucleation rates.