Effects of metalloid elements on the glass-forming ability of Fe-based alloys

Effects of metalloid elements on the glass-forming ability (GFA) of the (Fe, Cr)–M–Y (M = C, B, or P) alloy system were studied. It is shown that for the alloys with single metalloid, carbon is most effective in improving the GFA as compared to elements B and P. For the alloys containing multiple metalloids, GFA is increased as the number of the metalloids increases, although the optimum contents of individual elements could be different. The effects of metalloid elements on the GFA of the current Fe-based alloys were analyzed from thermodynamic, kinetic and atomic radius perspectives.