Crystallization processes in amorphous Zr54Cu46 alloy

The crystallization of amorphous Zr₅₄Cu₄₆ alloy was investigated by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The experimental results show that an endothermic peak in DSC traces for amorphous Zr₅₄Cu₄₆ alloy exists at about 1006 K, indicating following eutectoid reaction occurs, namely, Cu₁₀Zr₇+CuZr₂↔CuZr in amorphous Zr₅₄Cu₄₆ alloy during heating. With increasing the heating rate, the glass transition temperature T_g and onset crystallization temperature T_x of amorphous Zr₅₄Cu₄₆ alloy increase in parallel, and the supercooled liquid region ΔT_x (=T_x−T_g) holds almost constant with an average value of 44 K. Both XRD and TEM results prove that Cu₁₀Zr₇ and CuZr₂ are main crystallization products for amorphous Zr₅₄Cu₄₆ alloy under continuous heating conditions. No CuZr phase is identified because of its small precipitation amount. Finally, the crystallization processes of amorphous Zr₅₄Cu₄₆ alloy were summarized.