Thermal stability, microstructure and crystallization kinetics of melt-spun Zr-Ti-Cu-Ni metallic glass

Melt-spun Zr63.33Ti8.89Cu15.45Ni12.33 glassy ribbons display a double-step devitrification behavior characterized by the precipitation of a metastable quasicrystalline phase in the first stage of the crystallization process, followed by the formation of crystalline phases in the following crystallization event. Investigation of the crystallization kinetics reveal that the initial part of the glass-to-quasicrystalline transformation (x ≤ 55 vol.%) occurs by diffusion controlled growth with an increasing nucleation rate (Avrami exponent n ≥ 2.5), whereas the later stage of the transformation (x > 55 vol.%) is dominated by the growth of the formed nuclei rather than by the generation of new nuclei (2.0 ≤ n ≤ 2.5). The activation energy for quasicrystallization is 360 kJ/mol, which is comparable to the values reported for other quasicrystal-forming Zr-based metallic glasses.