Glass forming ability and mechanical properties of Zr₅₀Cu ₄₂Al₈ bulk metallic glass

In this work, we report that Zr₅₀Cu₄₂Al₈ bulk metallic glass (BMG) exhibits excellent glass forming ability and mechanical properties. Zr₅₀Cu₄₂Al₈ glassy rods with a diameter of 3 mm were prepared using conventional copper mould suction casting. The glassy rod exhibits a modulus of about 115 GPa and a fracture strength of about 2 GPa, and, as compared with other large-scale BMGs, it has excellent room-temperature plasticity of up to 20% under compression. The fracture mechanism of the rod was investigated by microstructural investigations, and it was found that the large plasticity of the as-cast rod is closely related to the in situ formation of nano-crystalline particles embedded in the amorphous matrix.