Glass forming ability and thermodynamics of new Ti-Cu-Ni-Zr bulk metallic glasses

The quaternary Ti-Cu-Ni-Zr bulk metallic glasses are developed through proportionally mixing of the binary eutectic phases of Ti27Cu73, Ti76Ni24, Zr38Cu62 and Zr76Ni24. The novel Ti-Cu-based bulk metallic glasses with the critical diameter of 4 mm are successfully developed by the modification of the proportion of these eutectic units. The different glass forming ability (GFA) is discussed in a frame of thermodynamics. The GFA of these quaternary alloys correlate well with the reduced glass transition temperature (Trg), the γ value, the reduced ideal glass transition temperature (TK/Tm) (where TK is the ideal glass transition temperature) as well as the ratio between specific heat and entropy differences ΔCpm/ΔSm at the melting temperature (Tm).