Bulk metallic glasses: Eutectic coupled zone and amorphous formation

Recent developments to have led to renewed interest in bulk metallic glasses, which have an exceptionally low critical cooling rate for amorphous formation. They can be studied under controlled cooling conditions in which phase selection among all the crystalline and non-crystalline phases can be determined. The authors studied glass formation and glass-forming ability in relation to the eutectic coupled zone and found that for the alloys with a symmetric coupled zone, the best glass-forming region is associated with eutectic composition. For alloys with an asymmetric coupled zone, the best glass-forming region is at an off-eutectic composition. Understanding these materials could lead to the discovery of alloys of high glass-forming ability.