A new TiCuHfSi bulk metallic glass with potential for biomedical applications

A new Ti41.3Cu43.7Hf13.9Si1.1 bulk metallic glass (BMG), free of Ni, Al and Be elements, was designed using the proper mixing of binary deep eutectics. The alloy exhibited excellent glass forming ability (GFA) and could be cast into single glassy rod up to 3 mm in diameter by copper mould casting method. The appropriate atomic-size mismatch, the large negative heat of mixing among constituent elements, and the possible formation of glassy HfSiO4 facilitated its superior GFA. The BMG also showed good mechanical properties with fracture strength of 1685 MPa and Young’s modulus of 95 GPa as well as better corrosion resistance in both NaCl and Hank’s solutions, compared with pure Ti and Ti–6Al–4V alloy. The above results demonstrated that the developed BMG is promising in biomedical applications.