Crystallization behavior in a highly driven marginal glass forming alloy

Al90Sm10, a marginal glass former, was rapidly solidified using Cu-block single roller melt spinning at wheel speeds of 30 and 40 m/s. The product phases of rapid solidification were identified and analyzed using high energy synchrotron X-ray diffraction (HEXRD), high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and atom probe tomography. The as-quenched structure consists of a saturated amorphous phase and nanocrystalline Al with typical length scale of about 5 nm. The appearance of a pre-peak on HEXRD diffraction patterns and a low activation energy for first crystallization as determined using the Kissinger and Ozawa methods indicate some local ordering in the amorphous phase. The devitrification phase transformation path was determined using in situ high energy synchrotron radiation. Three phases, MS1, H1, and Al4Sm, were identified during decomposition of the amorphous phase. MS1, H1 and Al4Sm are cubic, hexagonal and orthorhombic metastable phases, respectively.