Novel bulkier copper-rich ternary metallic glasses from computational thermodynamics

The invariant reactions for four-phase equilibria in Cu–Zr–Ti system are obtained from thermodynamically calculated phase diagram. The compositions of the best glass formers have been identified to locate not only at ternary eutectics but also at other type of invariant reaction in this system by our experimental effort. Bulkier Cu-rich ternary metallic glasses (> 50 at.%Cu) are successfully synthesized following this approach. These new alloys show better glass-forming ability (GFA) than those of previously discovered alloys in same system. The maximum GFA appears at Cu56Zr16Ti28 and Cu56.4Zr33.8Ti9.8 respectively, as evidenced by their critical casting diameter of 5 mm. Both alloys have relative higher Vickers hardness of 609 and 592 kg/mm2.