Thermal and mechanical behaviors of Cu–Zr amorphous alloys

The thermal and mechanical properties of 1 mm diameter rod specimens were investigated over a wide composition range of the Cu–Zr binary alloy system. Our results indicated that alloys with composition near Cu–36 at.% Zr have a higher activation energy and a lower plastic deformation during compression test than those of compositions near Cu–50 at.% Zr. A relationship between the activation energy and the plastic deformation could be worked out suggesting that the lower is the activation energy to crystallization, the larger is the plastic deformation.