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Effect of different sources of oxygen on the thermal stability and crystallization behavior of the Cu66Zr34 metallic glass

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Abstract

Oxygen impurity dramatically influences the thermal stability and properties of metallic glasses (MGs). Oxygen was introduced to the base Cu66Zr34 alloy (AM) through deliberate addition (AMO), low vacuum fabrication (AMC) and oxidation (AO), respectively. Adding 2 at% oxygen leads to the formation of ZrO2 in the AMO alloy, while Cu51Zr14 is further seen in the AMC sample. The amorphous phase decomposes into Cu, ZrO2 and residual glassy phase after being oxidized in the air for 12 months. Higher Tx accompanied by wider ΔTx was obtained for the AMO and AMC alloys indicating better thermal stability compared to the AM alloy due to the stronger bonding between Zr and oxygen. The crystallization behavior changes from a single-step process for the AM and AMC samples to a double-step process for the AMO and AO alloys, indicating the crystallization mode changes from simultaneous precipitation of Cu51Zr14, Cu8Zr3 and Cu10Zr7 to a successive stepwise transformation with Cu51Zr14 as the primary phase. Such alteration further affects the variations of electrical resistivity and phase morphology. The findings imply varied effects on both the thermal stability and the crystallization behavior from the different sources of oxygen in the Cu66Zr34 MG. The appropriate oxygen addition in the melt before quenching benefits the thermal stability, but oxidation introduced oxygen deteriorates it. The different sources of oxygen also change crystallization behavior in a much variable manner.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51401015). The authors also thank Yihuan Cao, Huan Tong, Yin Zhang and Ziliang Xie for the assistance in DSC and TEM analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100083, China

    Binbin Liu, Caiyun Liu, Xin Jiang, Shuying Zhen, Li You & Feng Ye

  2. State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China

    Xin Jiang

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  1. Binbin Liu
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Liu, B., Liu, C., Jiang, X. et al. Effect of different sources of oxygen on the thermal stability and crystallization behavior of the Cu66Zr34 metallic glass. Appl. Phys. A 128, 84 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-021-05224-y

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