Crystallization characteristics of Ni-Zr metallic glasses from Ni20Zr80 to Ni70Zr30

Abstract

We present the results of a crystallization study in glassy Ni-Zr. The alloys were prepared by melt spinning over the continuous range Ni20Zr80 to Ni70Zr30 including for the first time the region between Ni40Zr60 and Ni60Zr40. As expected we find that the glasses are most stable at and around the eutectic compositions, except that at the extreme Zr-rich eutectic the glasses are destabilized by the premature precipitation of ω-Zr. The products of crystallization indicate that the current crystalline phase diagram is incomplete: a new peritectoid phase must be added at the composition Ni2Zr.