Crystallization kinetics of a bulk amorphous Cu–Ti–Zr–Ni alloy investigated by differential scanning calorimetry

The crystallization kinetics of a newly developed bulk amorphous Cu52.5Ti30Zr11.5Ni6 alloy was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. Under continuous heating conditions, the activation energies for the glass transition and crystallization at the onset, first peak and second peak crystallization temperatures are determined by means of Kissinger plots to be 356.86, 296.52, 288.77 and 257.19 kJ/mol, respectively. However, under isothermal conditions the average activation energy for crystallization is about 377.6 kJ/mol obtained by using the Arrhenius equation, which is much larger than that deduced from Kissinger plots. The local Avrami exponent n(x) is mostly in the range 2.4–3.1, implying that the crystallization is mainly governed by diffusion-controlled, three-dimensional growth with nearly constant nucleation rate.