Zhou Jiankun

A comparative study of the structure and crystallization of bulk metallic amorphous rod Pr60Ni30Al10 and melt-spun metallic amorphous ribbon Al87Ni10Pr3

Pr-based bulk metallic amorphous (BMA) rods (Pr60Ni30Al10) and Al-based amorphous ribbons (Al87Ni10Pr3) have been prepared by using copper mould casting and single roller melt-spun techniques, respectively. Thermal parameters deduced from differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) indicate that the glass-forming ability (GFA) of Pr60Ni30Al10 BMA rod is far higher than that of Al87Ni10Pr3 ribbon. A comparative study about the differences in structure between the two kinds of glass-forming alloys, superheated viscosity and crystallization are also made. Compared with the amorphous alloy Al87Ni10Pr3, the BMA alloy Pr60Ni30Al10 shows high thermal stability and large viscosity, small diffusivity at the same superheated temperatures. The results of x-Ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) show the pronounced difference in structure between the two amorphous alloys. Together with crystallization results, the main structure compositions of the amorphous samples are confirmed. It seems that the higher the GFA, the more topological type clusters in the Pr–Ni–Al amorphous alloys, the GFAs of the present glass-forming alloys are closely related to their structures.