Composition range and glass forming ability of ternary Ca-Mg-Cu bulk metallic glasses

A number of ternary Ca-Mg-Cu amorphous alloys with compositions ranging from 40 to 70 at.% for Ca, 5-30 at.% for Mg and 10-36 at.% for Cu were produced by a copper mold casting method as wedge-shaped samples with the thickness varying from 0.5 to 10 mm. The maximum thickness at which an alloy remains fully amorphous, glass transition temperature, crystallization temperature, temperature interval of the supercooled region, solidus and liquidus temperatures, as well as heats of crystallization and melting, are reported for these alloys. The effect of the alloy composition on glass forming ability is discussed. In the studied composition range, the Ca50Mg22.5Cu27.5 alloy has the best glass forming ability, being fully amorphous after casting to the thicknesses of at least 10 mm. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.