Glass-Forming Ability of an Iron-Based Alloy Enhanced by Co Addition and Evaluated by a New Criterion

A new Fe-based alloy that can be cast into a fully amorphous rod with a diameter of at least 16mm by the conventional copper-mould casting technique is obtained by partially replacing Fe with Co in a previously reported Fe-based bulk metallic glass. The preliminary thermodynamic analysis indicates that the Co-containing alloy has a significantly lower Gibbs free energy difference between the undercooled melt and the corresponding crystalline solid, compared to the Co-free alloy, reflecting the dramatic role of the Co addition in stabilizing the supercooled melt and facilitating glass formation in iron-based alloys. Here, a new criterion, derived from the classical nucleation and growth theory, is introduced to evaluate the glass-forming ability of Fe-based bulk metallic glasses.