The fabrication and property evaluation of Zr–Ti–B–Si thin film metallic glass materials

• Four Zr-Ti-B-Si thin film metallic glass (TFMGs) were made.
• The Si content of TFMGs ranges from 12.4 to 17.3 at.%.
• Si content influences the microstructure, mechanical and anticorrosion properties of TFMGs.
• The optimal mechanical and anticorrosion properties are found for Zr–10.2Ti–15.3B–17.3Si TFMG.

Recently, the thin film metallic glass materials have attracted much attention due to their amorphous structure and unique properties. In this work, four Zr–Ti–B–Si thin film metal glasses (TFMGs) were fabricated on Si wafer and AISI 420 stainless steel disk substrates using four pure targets by a co-sputtering system. The power of Si target was adjusted to achieve TFMGs with different Si contents. The amorphous phase of TFMG was determined by X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM). When the Si content was higher than 12.9 at.%, the dense and featureless microstructures of thin films were produced. Very high hardness, beyond 10 GPa, was obtained for Zr-Ti-B-Si TFMG containing high Si content. The excellence in corrosion resistance of Zr-Ti-B-Si TFMGs was confirmed by the potentiodynamic polarization test in 5.0 wt.% NaCl aqueous solution. It can be concluded that the Si content showed a positive influence on the hardness, adhesion and anti-corrosion performance of the Zr–Ti–B–Si thin film metallic glass.