Abstract
During the last two decades, researchers have developed families of metal alloys that exhibit exceptional resistance to crystallization in the undercooled liquid state. Upon cooling, these alloys readily form glass or vitrify to form bulk amorphous alloys or bulk metallic glasses. The stability of the undercooled molten alloys with respect to crystallization has enabled studies of liquid thermodynamics, rheology, atomic diffusion, and the glass transition previously not possible in metallic systems. Bulk amorphous alloys exhibit very high strength, specific strength, and elastic strain limit, along with unusual combinations of other engineering properties. These factors, taken together, suggest that bulk amorphous metals will become widely used engineering materials during the next decade.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
W. Clement, R.H. Willens, and R. Duwez,Nature, 187 (1960), p. 869.
For a review of early metallic glass work and planar flow casting technology, see J.J. Gillman and H.J. Leamy,Metallic Glasses (Metals Park, OH: ASM Int., 1978).
H.S. Chen,Acta Metall., 22 (1974), p. 1505.
M.C. Lee, J.M. Kendall, and W.L. Johnson,Appl. Phys, Lett, 40 (1982), p. 383.
A.L. Drehman, A. Greer, and D. Turnbull,Appl. Phys. Lett., 41 (1982), p. 716; also H.W. Kui, A.L. Geer, and D. Turnbull,Appl. Phys. Lett., 45 (1984), p. 615.
A. Inoue et al.,Mater Trans., JIM, 31 (1990), p. 104.
For a review of early work by Sendai group, see A. Inoue,Bulk Amorphous Alloys—Preparation and Fundamental Characteristics, Materials Science Foundations series, No. 4 (Zurich, Switzerland: Trans Tech Publications, 1998).
A. Peker and W.L. Johnson,Appl. Phys. Lett., 63 (1993), p. 2342.
For an overview see, W.L. Johnson,Mater. Res. Soc. Bulletin, 24 (1999), pp. 42–56.
See for example,Bulk Metallic Glasses, ed. W.L. Johnson, A. Inoue, and C.T. Liu (Warrendale, PA: MRS, 1999); alsoSupercooled Liquid, Bulk Glassy, and Nanocrystalline States of Alloys, ed. A. Inoue et al., (Warrendale, PA: MRS, 2001).
D. Turnbull,J. Chem. Phys., 18 (1950), p. 198.
C.A. Angell,Science, 267 (1995), p. 1924.
See for example, A. Busch, E. Bakke, and W.L. Johnson,Acta Mater., 46 (1998), p. 4725.
S. Scheider et al.,Physica B, 241 (1997), p. 918.
C.C. Hays, C.R Kim, and W.L. Johnson,Phys. Rev. Lett, 84 (2000), p. 2901.
M.F Ashby,Materials Selection in Mechanical Design (Oxford, U.K.: Pergamon Press, 1992), pp. 86–91.
R.D. Conner et al.,Int. J. Impact Eng., 24 (2000), p. 435.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Johnson, W.L. Bulk amorphous metal—An emerging engineering material. JOM 54, 40–43 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02822619
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02822619