Heat capacity of glassy and crystalline Zr0.55Al0.10Ni0.05Cu0.30

The heat capacity (Cp) of Zr0.55Al0.10Ni0.05Cu0.30 (ZANC) alloy was measured for glassy rod, glassy ribbon, and the crystallized samples by a thermal relaxation technique between 1.8 and 310 K and by the step scanning method of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) between 300 and 873 K. The low-temperature Cp becomes larger as the sample turns from the crystal into the glassy rod and further into the glassy ribbon. The crystallized sample showed no anomaly in Cp up to 873 K, while the glassy rod and glassy ribbon samples showed a glass transition around 680 K, and then crystallization at about 726 K. An exothermic phenomenon was observed in the glassy ribbon sample below the glass transition temperature, which was probably caused by another structural relaxation. These results suggest that the degree of vitrification becomes higher with increasing cooling rate in the vitrification process.