Cu-based bulk amorphous alloy with larger glass-forming ability and supercooled liquid region

The glassy rod with a maximum sample thickness of 11 mm and larger supercooled liquid region of 108 K was successfully fabricated when substituting Cu with minor amount of Ag in the Cu–Zr–Al–Gd alloy system. The value of γ reaches a maximum of 0.418 for the Cu45.5Zr45Al7Gd2Ag0.5 bulk metallic glass (BMG) alloy. The high glass-forming ability (GFA) and larger supercooled liquid region are discussed from atomic size, negative mixing heat among constituent elements and thermodynamics.