Glass forming ability, thermodynamics and mechanical properties of novel Ti–Cu–Ni–Zr–Hf bulk metallic glasses

• Novel pentabasic Ti–Cu–Ni–Zr–Hf BMGs with critical diameter of 4 mm were fabricated.
• The method of designing pentabasic Ti–Cu–Ni–Zr–Hf alloys was applied.
• The correlation between the GFA and the δ and ΔCpm/ΔSm values is discussed.
• The Ti29.44Cu46.72Ni7.88Zr7.6Hf8.4 alloy exhibited favorable mechanical properties.

Novel, pentabasic Ti–Cu–Ni–Zr–Hf bulk metallic glasses (BMGs), with critical diameters of 2–4 mm, were successfully developed through the proportional mixing of the binary eutectic compositions of Ti27Cu73, Ti76Ni24, Zr76Ni24 and Hf84Ni16. According to the concept of binary eutectic units, five Ti–Cu–Ni–Zr–Hf BMGs were fabricated, of which the Ti29.44Cu46.72Ni7.88Zr7.6Hf8.4 alloy had the lower glass forming ability, and the smallest reduced ideal glass transition temperature δ   and ΔCpm/ΔSm values, where ΔCpm and ΔSm represent the specific heat and entropy differences at the melting temperature (Tm), respectively. The Ti29.44Cu46.72Ni7.88Zr7.6Hf8.4 alloy also showed good mechanical properties, i.e., good plastic strain and relatively high compressive strength.