Compositional dependence of glass-forming ability, medium-range order, thermal stability and liquid fragility of Al–Ni–Ce-based amorphous alloys

The Al–Ni–Ce-based amorphous alloys are presented to study compositional dependence of glass-forming ability (GFA), crystallization behavior, thermal stability, medium-range order (MRO) and liquid fragility. The GFA of Al87Ni8Ce5 and Al84Ni8Ce5X3 amorphous alloys ranks as follows: Al84Ni8Ce5Co3 > Al84Ni8Ce5Fe3 > Al84Ni8Ce5Mg3 > Al84Ni8Ce5Cu3 > Al87Ni8Ce5 > Al84Ni8Ce5Si3, which have the same tendency with the ratio of the prepeak area to the total area of the main peak in the X-ray intensity curve (Sprepeak/Stotal). That implies that the GFA has a good relation with the stable MRO structure. Better thermal stability (Ep1) and larger activation enthalpy for the glass transition (ΔH*) corresponds to larger fragility parameter (m). That reflects that the thermal stability of metallic glasses and the stability of supercooled liquids are attributed to the strong–fragile characteristics of glass-forming liquids.