Synthesis and properties of bulk metallic glasses in the ternary Ni–Nb–Zr alloy system

Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) with high thermal stability, good mechanical properties and high corrosion resistance were synthesized in the Ni–Nb–Zr system. A large bulk glass-forming region with 60 < Ni < 64, 28 < Nb < 38 and 0 < Zr < 9 (in at.%) was found. The critical size for the glass formation is 3 mm. These investigated Ni-based BMGs process high glass transition temperature of about 880–900 K and high on-set crystallization temperature of 915–932 K as well as high compressive fracture strength of approximate 3.0–3.2 GPa along with some compressive plasticity of about 2%. Electrochemical measurements indicate they also exhibit high corrosion resistance, i.e., large passive region above 1.5 V (vs. saturated calomel reference electrode, SCE). The influence of the Zr content on the glass-forming ability (GFA) and corrosion behaviors was carefully studied, indicating that some Zr addition improves the GFA and corrosion resistance.