Solidification of metallic glasses

This chapter presents the outstandingly large glass-forming ability of the new Pd₄₀Cu₃₀Ni₁₀P₂₀ alloy through the investigation of in situ undercooling behaviour using a thermal analysis technique. In order to demonstrate the large glass-forming ability of the new palladium-based quaternary metallic glass, the production of a bulk metallic glass was tried by water quenching of the molten alloy in a quartz tube. The characteristic temperatures of the bulk sample such as glass transition crystallization and onset of melting temperatures agree with those for the melt-spun glassy ribbon, suggesting that there are no distinct differences in the disordered structure and thermal stability of the two supercooled liquids despite their very different sample thicknesses. The outstandingly large glass-forming ability of the alloy enables us to investigate the undercooling behaviour by ordinary thermal analysis.