Glass-forming ability and mechanical properties of a Zr52.8Cu29.1Ni7.3Al9.8Y1 bulk metallic glass prepared by hereditary process

Abstract Zr-based bulk metallic glass possesses the highest potential as a structural material among metallic glasses. However, the production conditions have a great effect on its glass-forming ability (GFA) and mechanical characteristics. In this paper, an attempt was made to find the effect of a hereditary structure on the GFA and mechanical properties of a solid Zr52.8Cu29.1Ni7.3Al9.8Y1 bulk metallic glass in order to evaluate a novel process of using binary alloys as precursors, which have a hereditary relation to the aim metallic glass (MGs). When the quenching temperature is below the threshold overheating temperature, the hereditary process can improve the GFA and compressive strength obviously. At a quenching temperature of 1523 K, the hereditary process can improve the supercooled liquid region ΔTx from 33 K to 55 K and the compressive strength from 1555 MPa to 1652 MPa.