Formation of in-situ nanoscale Ag particles in (Ti0.33Zr0.33Hf0.33)40(Ni0.33Cu0.33Ag0.33)50Al10 alloy with wide supercooled liquid region

In-situ nanoscale Ag particles embedded in a glassy matrix are produced through rapid solidification technique in (Ti0.33Zr0.33Hf0.33)40(Ni0.33Cu0.33Ag0.33)50Al10 alloy which is developed from (Ti0.33Zr0.33Hf0.33)40(Ni0.5Cu0.5)50Al10 alloy by equiatomic substitution of Ag. During solidification, the spherical Ag particles ranging 30-100 nm in diameter precipitate homogeneously while the remaining melt solidifies as glassy phase. The remaining glassy phase exhibits a wide supercooled liquid region ΔT=Tx−Tg=774 K-683 K=91 K, where Tx and Tg are crystallization and glass transition temperatures, respectively. In contrast, Ag-free (Ti0.33Zr0.33Hf0.33)40(Ni0.5Cu0.5)50Al10 alloy prepared by rapid solidification is glassy single phase with a supercooled liquid region ΔT=815 K-757 K=58 K. Therefore, the equiatomic substitution of Ag for Ni and Cu in the (Ti0.33Zr0.33Hf0.33)40(Ni0.5Cu0.5)50Al10 alloy has an advantage of the formation of the in-situ nanoscale Ag particles in the glassy matrix accompanied by improving the glass-forming ability.