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Bulk Metallic Glasses,
Second Edition
Bulk Metallic Glasses,
Second Edition
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dedicated
to the memory of
Foreword....................................................................................................................................... xiii
Preface to the Second Edition.................................................................................................... xvii
Acknowledgments....................................................................................................................... xix
Authors .......................................................................................................................................... xxi
1 Introduction..............................................................................................................................1
1.1 Motivation....................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Advanced Materials....................................................................................................... 1
1.3 Rapid Solidification Processing...................................................................................3
1.4 Mechanical Alloying.....................................................................................................5
1.5 Outline of the Book........................................................................................................ 6
References..................................................................................................................................7
2 Metallic Glasses....................................................................................................................... 9
2.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................... 9
2.2 Distinction between Crystals and Glasses............................................................... 10
2.3 Differences between Amorphous Alloys and Metallic Glasses............................ 11
2.4 Concepts of Glass Formation...................................................................................... 13
2.5 Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Glass Formation............................................... 16
2.5.1 Thermodynamic Stability.............................................................................. 17
2.5.2 Kinetics of Glass Formation.......................................................................... 18
2.6 Methods to Synthesize Metallic Glasses.................................................................. 21
2.6.1 Vapor-State Processes..................................................................................... 21
2.6.2 Liquid-State Processes....................................................................................22
2.6.3 Solid-State Processes...................................................................................... 23
2.6.3.1 Hydrogen-Induced Amorphization............................................. 23
2.6.3.2 Multilayer Amorphization............................................................. 24
2.6.3.3 Pressure-Induced Amorphization................................................ 24
2.6.3.4 Amorphization by Irradiation....................................................... 24
2.6.3.5 Severe Plastic Deformation............................................................ 24
2.6.3.6 Accumulative Roll Bonding........................................................... 26
2.7 Bulk Metallic Glasses.................................................................................................. 27
2.7.1 Characteristics of Bulk Metallic Glasses..................................................... 27
2.7.2 Origins of Bulk Metallic Glasses.................................................................. 28
2.8 High-Entropy and Pseudo-High-Entropy Bulk Metallic Glasses.........................30
2.9 Potential Resources in the Literature on Metallic Glasses..................................... 33
References................................................................................................................................34
vii
viii Contents
On September 3, 1960, there appeared in print a short article, barely over one column long,
that shifted a paradigm: Klement, Willens, and Duwez reported that the alloy Au75 Si25
(composition in atomic %) could be obtained in glassy form by rapid solidification of the
liquid [Nature 187, 869 (1960)]. It was already known that metallic alloys could be obtained
in unstable noncrystalline form by vapor deposition onto cold substrates, but the real-
ization of a metallic glass (formed when a liquid solidifies without crystallization) was a
surprise. At first, the very possibility of a metallic glassy state was disputed, but the active
research stimulated by that 1960 paper has gone on to show not only that metallic alloys
can form true glasses, but also that such glasses can be formed in bulk without the need
for rapid solidification, that they have distinctive, sometimes record-breaking, properties,
and that they have and will find a wide range of applications.
It is time for a golden jubilee celebration! Thankfully, we find one well executed in the
form of this book that comprehensively covers the modern field of bulk metallic glasses.
Better still, the book’ s authors have prominent and complementary profiles in the field.
With publication records spanning some 80 man-years, the authors can put metallic
glasses into context in the broad fields of advanced metallic materials and nonequilibrium
processing in which they have both been so active.
Over the last 50 years, interest has waxed and waned, but surveying the field at this
point, we can see not only that metallic glasses are an important new class of material, but
also that their appearance has transformed fundamental understanding in a wide range
of areas. For example, studies of the structure of metallic glasses have stimulated much
work on equilibrium and supercooled metallic liquids. The structure of such liquids was
first described by Bernal as dense random packing. While a high packing density is a
characteristic of metallic liquids and glasses, it is now better appreciated that high den-
sities are not associated with randomness, but rather with high degrees of order, albeit
noncrystalline. The kinetics of crystallization of liquids is often discussed in terms of
time– temperature– transformation diagrams. Whereas such diagrams were once purely
schematic, glass-forming metallic systems allow them to be determined experimentally.
Transmission electron microscopy of metallic glasses has permitted atomic-level inves-
tigations of crystal nucleation, relevant for standard solidification yet difficult or impos-
sible to conduct on the liquids themselves. A comparison of metallic glasses with other
longer-established members of the broad family of glasses has improved understanding
of the glass transition, and has revealed remarkable correlations of thermal, elastic, and
mechanical properties that hint at fundamentals of the glassy state spanning different
bonding types.
Metallic glasses are of interest in establishing the fundamental basis of physical,
mechanical, and chemical properties. In their early days, for example, they were impor-
tant in showing something not universally expected at the time— that crystallinity is not
a prerequisite for ferromagnetism. And at the present time, the distinctive shear-band
deformation mode of metallic glasses is stimulating the development of theory on the
ultimate strength of materials.
Such contributions to the broader understanding of condensed matter can only sup-
port interest in the metallic glasses themselves as new materials. This book covers their
remarkable development since 1960: production methods, understanding of structure and
xiii
xiv Foreword
glass-forming ability, composition ranges available, and properties. Above all, it is the
availability of many metallic glasses in bulk form (with minimum dimension exceeding
1 mm to 1 cm) that has stimulated the current intense research on these materials.
Among the reasons for studying the crystallization of metallic glasses is that attractive
microstructures can be obtained. The metallic glasses can act as precursors, rather as oxide
glasses do in the production of conventional glass ceramics. There are, indeed, several
ways in which composites based on metallic glasses are of interest. Among those cov-
ered in this book are dispersions of a primary ductile crystalline phase in a metallic– glass
matrix, composites that show remarkable combinations of strength and toughness. Also
covered is the emerging topic of metallic glass foams.
Very early in studies of metallic glasses, it was recognized that they would have prop-
erties attractive for applications. Their excellent soft magnetic properties were the first to
be exploited on a large commercial scale. As made clear in this book, their physical and
mechanical properties, and their corrosion resistance, can also be highly attractive. So
much of our technology is limited by materials performance. The current challenges in
clean power generation and other aspects of sustainability may yet be materials science’ s
finest hour, when solutions emerge in the form of new materials and new processing routes:
bulk metallic glasses will surely have a prominent role. They may not be used on the larg-
est scales associated with structural steels, but on the scales associated with personal items,
such as sports equipment down to micro- and nano-devices, they have much to offer.
In this important reference work for the field, the authors provide comprehensive yet
critical coverage of all major aspects of bulk metallic glasses. They recognize that it is
important to understand the drawbacks as well as the advantages of these materials. They
also show that while there have been great advances in understanding, many challenges
remain. Bulk metallic glasses are at the heart of an exciting field with much still to deliver.
A. Lindsay Greer
Cambridge, UK
The future of metallurgy lies in mastering disorder. In fact, one can argue that the trajec-
tory of our field has followed a path of increasing topological disorder ever since the real-
ization that pure metals are crystalline. Although crystallinity provides symmetry and
order, it is the regions where ideal crystalline packing is disrupted that capture our atten-
tion. Metallurgists focus on “ defects,” including dislocations and grain boundaries, recog-
nizing that these positions of broken periodicity, even when present in vanishingly small
volume fractions, utterly dominate the most important properties. Recently, the interest in
so-called nanocrystalline or nanostructured metals has driven attention to a regime where
more atoms than not lie in disordered regions, evoking a variety of new mechanisms and
properties of immediate technological interest.
In this landscape, amorphous metals are a limit— they are completely noncrystalline,
with a negligible fraction of atoms sitting in a symmetric, crystalline environment. They
are a mystery— their structure is often more definable in terms of what they are not than
what they are. When first discovered in the 1950s, they were rare and unusual; today they
are pervasive, and can be produced by a wide array of synthesis routes. Their proper-
ties are not limited by the presence of lattice defects; they promise a suite of genuinely
exceptional properties. Extreme values of strength, fracture toughness, magnetic proper-
ties, corrosion resistance, and other properties have been recorded in amorphous metals.
In some cases, these come not individually, but in combinations unparalleled by any other
material known to humankind.
Foreword xv
If our future is to master disorder, then amorphous metals will certainly point the way.
In particular, metallic glasses (i.e., amorphous metals produced from the melt) are formed
by intentionally stabilizing the disordered liquid structure, and the rules for doing so
become better understood with each passing year. And, although we may glibly describe
them as “ disordered,” metallic glasses are structured in rich and complex ways that are
just beginning to be unraveled. Their properties emerge in enigmatic ways from their
disordered structure, and the means of optimizing those properties remain tantalizingly
out of reach.
Metallic glasses have been actively studied for decades, and with particular fervor in the
one just past. With many thousands of scholarly articles on the subject, and as many more
expected in the coming years, a research text that overviews the entire field is overdue.
Although there have been conference proceedings, edited collections, and review articles
on metallic glasses, this book is unique in that its authors have designed a text that system-
atically covers each of the important aspects of the field, from processing, to structure, to
properties. The authors have been at the center of this field through its most crucial period,
have extensive experience in writing reviews, and bring complementary views to bear in
the book. Each of the chapters presents a balance of breadth and depth: the coverage of
the field is extensive with copious citations to the research literature and extensive com-
pilation of data on glass properties. Attention is paid to critical nuances that highlight the
complexity of glasses, such as the difference between “ bulk” glass-forming alloys formed
by casting (which is the principal focus of the book), and similar alloys with subtly differ-
ent structures produced by rapid solidification or solid-state routes.
With all of these qualities, this book is sure to be a welcome source of reflection for those
already immersed in the field, and an inspiration to those entering it. I expect that this
book will be an important milestone on the path to mastering disorder.
Christopher A. Schuh
MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Metallic glasses with amorphous structures, first discovered in 1960, are of both scientific
and technological interest. The successful synthesis of bulk metallic glasses during the
late 1980s stimulated great enthusiasm in the study of this class of metallic materials.
Substantial progress has been made in understanding the physical, chemical, and mechan-
ical properties of bulk metallic glasses since the beginning of the 1990s. Characterization
on the atomic scale indicates the formation of tightly bonded atomic clusters and loosely
bonded free-volume zones in the amorphous state. Various polyhedral packings have been
observed in these clusters, and have also been confirmed by atomic simulations. Unlike
crystalline materials with periodic lattice structures, the plastic deformation of bulk
metallic glasses proceeds via localized shear bands, resulting in inhomogeneous deforma-
tion at ambient temperatures. Bulk metallic glasses show extremely high strength, close
to the theoretical strength of solids in the glassy state, and superplastic behavior in the
supercooled liquid state. Experimental studies and theoretical analyses both reveal shear
transformation zones, instead of dislocations, as the basic unit for plastic deformation in
bulk metallic glasses. Furthermore, recent studies indicate that bulk metallic glasses pos-
sess attractive physical and mechanical properties for high-tech applications in micro/-
nanosystems. These interesting results, as well as all fundamental and applied topics, are
systematically described in 11 chapters in this book, authored by Professor Suryanarayana
from the University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, and Professor Inoue from Tohoku
University, Sendai, Japan.
xvi Foreword
Professor Inoue has conducted pioneering work on the synthesis and development of
bulk metallic glasses over the past 20 years. He is familiar with all aspects of the properties
and behaviors of these materials. There is no doubt that Professor Inoue is the right person
to lead the effort in writing this book. In contrast to the edited book published previously,
this book covers all topics in a coherent manner. Bulk metallic glasses are presently emerg-
ing as a new class of metallic materials with unique physical and mechanical properties
for structural and functional uses. This book is suitable for young researchers in materials
science and applied physics who are interested in learning about bulk metallic glasses,
and are looking for a guidebook to help launch their research into this exciting materials
field. This book is also perfect for use as a textbook for students in graduate schools.
C.T. Liu
Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hong Kong
Auburn University
Auburn, Alabama
Preface to the Second Edition
We are extremely happy with the reception that the first edition of our book on bulk metal-
lic glasses received from senior and experienced researchers, junior researchers, and fresh
graduate students. There have been several positive comments about the style adopted in
the book to explain the concepts and the present status of this exciting new field of materi-
als science and engineering.
The fast pace of research in this field has been maintained from the beginning, and new
findings are continuously being reported in both archival journals and conference pro-
ceedings. Therefore, we have decided to bring out a new edition.
In this second edition, we have decided to maintain the easy readability of the material
without sacrificing accuracy. Additionally, we have incorporated all the new information
that has been published in the period since the publication of the first edition until the
end of 2016. The new information generated in the last few years has essentially been in
the areas of glass-forming ability, corrosion behavior, mechanical properties, and applica-
tions of bulk metallic glasses. We have tried to include all the new data and to provide
up-to-date assessments in all the sections. We have also updated all the references in every
chapter of the book.
We have been very fortunate in receiving constructive comments and criticism from
the readers. Particular mention must be made of Professors S. Ranganathan of the Indian
Institute of Science in Bangalore, India, and Dmitri Louizguine-Luzgin of the WPI-
Advanced Materials Research Institute of Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan. We are very
thankful to them and all others who provided feedback. We are also thankful to Dr. F.L.
Kong of the International Institute of Green Materials of the Josai International University
in Togane, Japan, and Dr. Zhi Wang of the South China University of Technology,
Guangzhou, China, for help in different aspects of the preparation of the draft.
Despite taking great care to present the wealth of new information carefully and accu-
rately, it is possible that some errors may have crept in. If the readers notice any errors in
the data or presentation, we would be extremely grateful if they could please contact us at
Surya@ucf.edu or ainouebmg@yahoo.co.jp.
C. Suryanarayana
Orlando, Florida
A. Inoue
Togane, Japan
xvii
Acknowledgments
It is with great pleasure that we acknowledge the invaluable assistance we have received
from many colleagues and friends who have contributed, in different ways, to the success-
ful completion of this book.
Both of us have been involved with the synthesis, characterization, and applications of
rapidly solidified materials in general, and metallic glasses in particular, for over three
decades. During this long journey, we have had the good fortune of interacting with a
number of leaders in this field, from whom we have learned immensely and benefited
greatly in understanding the complexities of metallic glasses. In alphabetical order, they
are T.R. Anantharaman, R.W. Cahn, H.S. Chen, P. Duwez, T. Egami, H. Fujimori, A.L.
Greer, K. Hashimoto, C.T. Liu, T. Masumoto, J.H. Perepezko, S. Ranganathan, K. Suzuki,
and A.R. Yavari. We are pleased to have had their guidance and advice at different stages
in our professional careers.
Some chapters of the book were read by colleagues. We are grateful to Professor Dmitri
Louzguine-Luzgin and Dr. Nobuyuki Nishiyama of Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, and
Professor R. Vaidyanathan of the University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, for their
critical comments and constructive suggestions. The incorporation of these suggestions
has certainly improved the clarity and readability of the book.
Many of the figures in this book have been prepared by friends and students. We are
thankful to Dr. Akira Takeuchi, Dr. Ichiro Seki, C.L. Qin, and Dr. U.M.R. Seelam for their
hard work and patience in preparing the several iterations of the figures. The aesthet-
ics of the figures are mostly due to their skills. Professors Dmitri Louzguine-Luzgin
and Yoshihiko Yokoyama have also provided some of the figures used in this book. We
are also grateful to the authors and publishers from whom we have borrowed several
figures.
Parts of this book were written while one of the authors (C.S.) was a visiting profes-
sor at the International Frontier Center for Advanced Materials at Tohoku University
in Sendai, Japan. C.S. is grateful to the Tohoku University for the award of this pro-
fessorship. A number of colleagues have helped us during this stay. Particular men-
tion should be made of Professor Mingwei Chen, Dr. Hisamichi Kimura, Professor
Dmitri Louzguine-Luzgin, Dr. Nobuyuki Nishiyama, Dr. Tokujiro Yamamoto, and Dr.
Yoshihiko Yokoyama, with whom we had stimulating discussions. C.S. is also grateful
to Professor Kazuhiro Hono of the National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba,
Japan, for several useful discussions on different aspects of bulk metallic glasses. The
quality of the material presented in the book has vastly improved as a result of these
discussions.
C.S. would also like to thank Professors Ranganathan Kumar and David Nicholson, suc-
cessive chairmen of the Department of Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering
at the University of Central Florida for providing a conducive environment in which to
complete the book.
We wish to thank the staff of Taylor & Francis/CRC Press for their high level of coopera-
tion and interest in successfully producing a high-quality and aesthetically pleasing book.
We are particularly thankful to Allison Shatkin for her patience in waiting for the delivery
of the final manuscript.
xix
xx Acknowledgments
Last, but by no means least, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to our wives Meena and
Mariko, who encouraged and supported us with love, understanding, and patience
throughout this endeavor.
C. Suryanarayana
Orlando, Florida
A. Inoue
Sendai, Japan
Authors
xxi
xxii Authors
1.1 Motivation
The search for new and advanced materials has been the major preoccupation of materials
scientists during the past several years. Recent investigations have focused on the improve-
ment of the properties and performance of existing materials and/or synthesis and devel-
opment of completely novel materials. Significant improvements have been achieved in the
mechanical, chemical, and physical properties of materials by the addition of alloying ele-
ments, m icrostructural modification, and by subjecting the materials to thermal, mechani-
cal, or thermomechanical processing methods. Completely new materials, unheard of
earlier, have also been synthesized. These include metallic glasses [1– 3], quasicrystals [4,5],
nanocrystalline materials [6– 10], and high-temperature superconductors [11], to name a
few. The high-technology industries have provided the opportunity and fillip to develop
these novel materials. Along with the development of the synthesis methods for these
materials, there has also been the development of newer and improved techniques to char-
acterize these materials with better resolution capabilities to determine the crystal struc-
ture and microstructure at different levels (nanometer, micrometer, and mesoscale levels),
phase identification, and composition of phases of ever-decreasing dimensions and with
higher and higher resolutions, down to the atomic level.
The rapid progress of technology during the last 50– 60 years and the current demands
in the twenty-first century have been putting tremendous pressure on materials scientists
to develop ever-newer materials that have further improved properties, such as higher
strength or improved stiffness, and materials that could be used at much higher tempera-
tures and in more aggressive environments than is possible with traditional and com-
mercially available materials. These efforts have resulted in the design and development
of advanced materials that are “ stronger, stiffer, and lighter” and also those that could be
used at much higher temperatures (“ hotter” ) than the existing materials. The synthesis
and development of such materials have been facilitated by exploring the interrelation-
ship between the processing, structure, properties, and performance of materials; the basic
underlying theme of materials science and engineering.
1
2 Bulk Metallic Glasses, Second Edition
tailored set of properties for demanding applications [12]. Thus, the attraction of advanced
materials is that they could be designed and synthesized with improved and well-defined
properties for specific applications.
Naturally available materials have excellent property combinations in some cases. They
are even being imitated to develop newer materials, and a new area of the biomimetic
synthesis of materials has emerged. But, in order to achieve a combination of properties
and performance better than that of the existing materials, it is well recognized that mate-
rials need to be processed under far from equilibrium or nonequilibrium conditions [13].
This realization has led to the development of a number of nonequilibrium processing
techniques during the second half of the twentieth century. Among these, special men-
tion may be made of rapid solidification processing (RSP) [1– 3,14– 17], mechanical alloying
(MA) [18– 22], plasma processing [23], vapor deposition [24], and spray deposition [25].
Considerable research is being done in these different areas to develop materials for a
variety of applications, and this is clearly evident in the large number of publications every
year and also the number of conferences devoted to these topics.
The basis of nonequilibrium processing is to “ energize and quench” a material, as pro-
posed by Turnbull [26]. Processes such as solid-state quenching, rapid solidification from
the liquid state, irradiation, and condensation from the vapor phase were considered to
evaluate the departures from equilibrium. However, there are several other methods of
nonequilibrium processing that do not involve quenching. These include, among others,
the static undercooling of liquid droplets, electrodeposition of alloys, MA, severe plastic
deformation, application of high pressures, and absorption of hydrogen. Therefore, instead
of calculating the quench rate, it may be useful to evaluate the maximum departure from
equilibrium in each of these processing methods.
The process of “ energize and quench” to synthesize metastable phases has been
described earlier [27]. In brief, the process of energization involves bringing the equilib-
rium crystalline material into a highly energetic condition by some external dynamic forc-
ing, for example, through an increase in temperature (melting or evaporation), irradiation,
the application of pressure, or the storing of mechanical energy by plastic deformation.
Such energized materials were referred to as driven materials by Martin and Bellon [28].
The process of energization may also involve a possible change of state from solid to liq-
uid (melting) or gas (evaporation). For example, during RSP the starting solid material
is melted, and during vapor deposition the material is vaporized. The energized mate-
rial is then “ quenched” into a configurationally frozen state by methods such as RSP so
that the resulting material is in a highly metastable condition. This “ quenched” phase
can then be used as a precursor to obtain the desired chemical constitution (other less
metastable phases) and/or microstructures (e.g., nanocrystalline material) by subsequent
heat treatment/processing. It has been shown that materials processed in this way pos-
sess improved physical, chemical, and mechanical characteristics in comparison to their
conventional ingot (solidification) processed materials. These metastable phases can be
used either as they are or subsequently transformed to other less metastable or near-equi-
librium or equilibrium crystalline phases to achieve the desired microstructural features
and properties by annealing methods.
It has long been known that the properties of materials can be changed by altering the
crystal structure (through polymorphic changes) or, more significantly, through micro-
structural modifications (by introducing crystal defects such as dislocations and grain
boundaries), or a combination of both. Gleiter [10] has recently suggested that, apart
from nanocrystalline materials, one could also consider nanoglasses to improve the
properties of materials further. Nanoglasses are similar to nanocrystalline materials,
Introduction 3
TABLE 1.1
Departure from Equilibrium Achieved in Different Nonequilibrium
Processing Methods
Maximum Departure from
Equilibrium (kJ mol−1 )
Effective Quench
Technique Rate (K s−1 ) Ref. [26] Ref. [29] Refs. [30,31]
Solid-state quench 10 3 0.5– 1.0 16
Rapid solidification processing 105 – 108 2– 3 24
Mechanical alloying — 10 30
Mechanical cold work — — 1
Irradiation/ion implantation 1012 — 30
Condensation from vapor 1012 100 160
1. Droplet methods : In this group of methods, a molten metal is atomized into small
droplets, and these are allowed to solidify either in the form of splats (on good
thermally conducting substrates, e.g., as in “ gun” quenching) or by impinging a
cold stream of air or an inert gas against the molten droplets (as, for example, in
atomization solidification).
2. Jet methods : In these methods, a flowing molten stream of metal is stabilized so
that it solidifies as a continuous filament, ribbon, or sheet in contact with a moving
chilled surface (e.g., chill block melt spinning and its variants).
3. Surface melting technologies : These methods involve rapid melting at the surface of
a bulk metal followed by high rates of solidification achieved through rapid heat
extraction into the unmelted block (as in laser surface treatments).
A number of techniques based on these three basic categories have been developed
over the years, and these have been reviewed and summarized earlier [34,35]. Therefore,
we will not describe any of these techniques here. The interested reader can refer to the
reviews or original publications for the details.
The technique of RSP has revolutionized many traditional concepts of metallurgy and
materials science. The most dramatic of these, for example, is that metallic materials can
exist, in addition to their normal crystalline state, either in a glassy (noncrystalline or
amorphous) state [1– 3] or in a quasicrystalline state (in which the traditionally forbidden
rotational crystal symmetries could be observed) [4,5]. Furthermore, it has been possible
to synthesize a variety of other metastable phases, such as supersaturated solid solutions,
and nonequilibrium intermediate phases. Rapidly solidified alloys have been finding a
multitude of applications, including a range of soft (for transformer core laminations) and
hard magnetic materials, wear-resistant light alloys, materials with enhanced catalytic
performance and for fuel-cell applications, powder metallurgy tool steels and superalloys,
and new alloys for medical implants and dental amalgams [36].
One of the requirements to achieve high solidification rates during RSP and, conse-
quently, the metastable effects in materials, is that heat must be extracted very rapidly
from the melt. The achievement of solidification rates of the order of 106 K s−1 was possible
only when at least one of the dimensions of the specimen was small, usually of the order of
about 20– 50 μ m. As a result, the products of RSP were ribbons, wires, or powders. Finding
applications for such thin materials was not easy unless these powders, ribbons (after pul-
verization), and other forms were consolidated to full density as bulk materials. On the
other hand, if a glassy alloy could be obtained at slow solidification rates, for example, by
water quenching where the solidification rate was only about 102 K s−1 , the section thick-
ness of the glassy phase would be expected to be much larger. Thus, materials scientists
have been on the lookout for materials and/or processes to produce metallic glasses in
thicker sections at slower solidification rates, very similar to what is commonly done for
silicate or oxide glasses. These attempts were successful in the late 1980s, mostly due to the
efforts of Professors Akihisa Inoue and Tsuyoshi Masumoto at the Tohoku University in
Sendai, Japan. They produced 1.2-mm diameter rods of La55 Al25 Ni20 alloy in a fully glassy
condition by water quenching [37] and 3-mm diameter rods and 2.3 × 5 mm square sec-
tions of the same La–Al–Ni–alloy with glassy phase by metallic mold casting [38]. Even
though millimeter-sized glassy alloys were produced earlier [39,40], this was the first time
that glass formation was demonstrated in such sizes in alloys without the presence of a
noble metal and by copper mold casting. This glassy alloy had a wide supercooled liquid
region Δ T x (=T x – T g , where T x and T g represent the crystallization and glass-transition
Introduction 5
temperatures, respectively). Such glasses with large section thicknesses are now referred
to as bulk metallic glasses . Later, Professor Bill Johnson from Caltech and his group also
produced a number of Zr-based bulk metallic glasses with thicknesses in the centimeter
range [41]. Currently, activity in this research area of materials science is global, and it is
estimated that more than a thousand research papers are published annually.