Binary Ni–Nb bulk metallic glasses

Abstract

We studied the glass forming ability of Ni–Nb binary alloys and found that some of the alloys can be prepared into bulk metallic glasses by a conventional Cu-mold casting. The best glass former within the compositional range studied is off-eutectic Ni62Nb38 alloy, which is markedly different from those predicted by the multicomponent and deep eutectic rules. The glass formation mechanism for binary Ni–Nb alloys was studied from the thermodynamic point of view and a parameter γ* was proposed to approach the ability of glass formation against crystallization.