Achieving the best glass former in a binary Gd–Co alloy system

• A metastable phase was observed in the rapidly quenched Gd–Co ribbons.
• The effect of the metastable phase on the glass formability was investigated.
• The best glass former in the Gd–Co binary alloys was predicted by the parameter γ⁎.
• The predictions were confirmed by the experimental results.

In this work, the best glass former in a binary Gd–Co alloy system has been designed by thermodynamic parameter γ⁎, which has been proved to be valid in the prediction of glass forming ability (GFA) of other binary alloys. A metastable phase has been observed in some Gd–Co melt-spun ribbons and its composition has been ascertained. By analyzing the effect of the metastable phase on the GFA of the Gd–Co binary alloys, we predict the Gd50Co50 alloy as the best glass former in the binary alloy system. The prediction has been confirmed by the experimental results, proving the validity of the parameter γ⁎ in the Gd–Co binary alloys.

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