Thermal stability and primary phase of Al–Ni(Cu)–La amorphous alloys

Thermal stability and primary phase of Al85+xNi9−xLa6 (x = 0–6) and Al85Ni9−xCuxLa6 (x = 0–9) amorphous alloys were investigated by X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimeter. It is revealed that replacing Ni in the Al85Ni9La6 alloy by Cu decreases the thermal stability and makes the primary phase change from intermetallic compounds to single fcc-Al as the Cu content reaches and exceeds 4 at.%. When the Ni and La contents are fixed, replacing Al by Cu increases the thermal stability but also promotes the precipitation of single fcc-Al as the primary phase.