Experimental determination of a time-temperature-transformation diagram of the undercooled Zr41.2Ti13.8CU12.5Ni10.0Be22.5 alloy using the containerless electrostatic levitation processing technique

High temperature high vacuum electrostatic levitation was used to determine the complete time-temperature-transformation (TTT) diagram of the Zr41.2Ti13.8CU12.5Ni10.0Be22.5 bulk metallic glass forming alloy in the undercooled liquid state. This is the first report of experimental data on the crystallization kinetics of a metallic system covering the entire temperature range of the undercooled melt down to the glass transition temperature. The measured TTT diagram exhibits the expected ''C'' shape. Existing models that assume polymorphic crystallization cannot satisfactorily explain the experimentally obtained TTT diagram. This originates from the complex crystallization mechanisms that occur in this bulk glass-forming system, involving large composition fluctuations prior to crystallization as well as phase separation in the undercooled liquid state below 800 K. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.