Bulk glassy Ni(Co–)Nb–Ti–Zr alloys with high corrosion resistance and high strength

Bulk glassy Ni60−xCoxNb20Ti10Zr10 (x=0–20 at.%) alloys with a large supercooled liquid region of more than 40 K were formed by copper-mold casting. The alloys with 5 and 10 at.% cobalt possess the highest glass-forming ability in the present alloy system and their critical diameter for glass formation is 1.5 mm. The bulk glassy alloys with different cobalt contents exhibit nearly the same corrosion behavior in HCl solutions. Their corrosion rates are less than 10−3 mm per year in 1 N and 6 N HCl solutions. The bulk glassy alloys are spontaneously passivated with low passive current densities of around 10−1 A m−2 in 1 N and 6 N HCl solutions. XPS analysis revealed the formation of a niobium-enriched passive film on the alloys by air-exposure or immersion in the acids, which could be responsible for the high corrosion resistance of the glassy Ni-based alloys. The Vickers hardness, Young’s modulus, compressive fracture strength and compressive fracture elongation of the 1.5 mm diameter bulk glassy alloys are 860, 160 GPa, 3050 MPa and 2% respectively. The facture surface exhibits a vein-like morphology.