Thermal properties of metallic glasses: Heating rate dependence and their correlation

• Thermal properties were studied on nine metallic glasses.
• Characteristic temperatures are dependent on heating rate while heat enthalpy is not.
• Relaxation time-temperature for glass transition shows non-Arrhenius manner.
• Activation energy is in positive correlation with supercooled liquid region width.

The thermal properties of nine amorphous compositions were investigated respectively by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). DSC tests reveal that, for each composition, the characteristic temperatures and the width of the supercooled liquid region (SLR) explicitly depends on heating rate, i.e., they increase as heating rate increases; in contrast, the heat enthalpy at crystallization appears to be independent of heating rate with an exception for the Zr-based specimen. Nevertheless, the larger characteristic temperatures generally correspond to the larger heat enthalpy and the wider glass transition region. Moreover, the SLR width is associated with the activation energy for the operation of a shear transformation zone.