Formation of Cu–Zr–Ni amorphous powders with significant supercooled liquid region by mechanical alloying technique

The amorphous Cu–Ni–Zr alloys were successfully synthesized by mechanical alloying mixtures of pure crystalline Cu, Ni and Zr powders with SPEX high-energy ball mill. These ranges are similar to those for amorphous alloys produced by melt-spinning techniques. The structure and thermal stability of these alloys were analyzed by X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimeter. Several amorphous alloy samples were found to exhibit a wide supercooled liquid region before crystallization. The temperature interval of the supercooled liquid region defined by the difference between Tg and Tx, i.e. ΔTx (=Tg−Tx), is 34 K for Cu10Zr60Ni30, 48 K for Cu20Zr60Ni20, 78 K for Cu40Zr55Ni5, 81 K for Cu50Zr35Ni15, 61 K for Cu50Zr40Ni10 and 64 K for Cu50Zr45Ni5.