Identification of bulk metallic glass-forming compositions in La-based systems using ultrahigh gravitational acceleration

Two eutectic multicomponent La-based alloys with high glass-forming ability were identified by ultrahigh acceleration centrifugal processing during cooling of compositionally off-eutectic melts. The identified ternary composition, La64Al13Cu23, was cast amorphously to 3 mm in diameter, comparable to previous studies. The quaternary composition, La65Al13Ni10Cu12, was cast to 10 mm in diameter, showing the highest glass-forming ability for this system. These results show that instead of extensive traditional alloy development, it is sufficient to study one centrifugally processed sample to discover the composition with the deepest eutectic, which (as predicted by Turnbull) produces good glass-forming ability.