Enhancement of the glass forming ability of Cu-Zr-Al alloys by Ag addition

The thermal stability and glass forming ability of Cu50-xZr43Al7Agx (x=0, 1, 3, 5, and 7) bulk metallic glass alloys have been investigated. The glass forming ability in the Cu-Zr-Al-Ag alloys increased proportionally to the Ag content and show good correlations with thermal parameters such as DeltaT(x)(=T-x-T-g), T-rg(=T-g/T-l) and gamma(=T-x/(T-g+T-l)). For the Cu43Zr43Al7Ag7 alloy, fully amorphous rods of 8 mm diameter were successfully fabricated by copper mold casting. Mechanical tests on this composition revealed also remarkable properties with compressive strength around 2000 MPa and large ductility.