TEM study of the cooling rate dependent crystallization behavior of (Zr65Al10Ni10Cu15)98Nb2 metallic glass

The crystallization of (Zr65Al10Ni10Cu15)98Nb2 metallic glasses has been studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The ribbon glass and bulk metallic glass (BMG) of this alloy exhibit different crystallization behaviors. For ribbon glass in the first stage crystallization, icosahedral quasicrystal (I-phase) precipitated together with the η-Zr2Ni (a = 1.226 nm) phase. The BMG alloy transforms into the I-phase and two coherently coexisted phases, namely, the Al2Zr3 phase and an unknown primitive cubic phase (a = 0.76 nm) in this stage. The experimental evidence indicates that the liquid cooling rate for sample preparation has a significant effect on its crystallization behavior of this alloy glass.