Factors influencing the metallic glass formation in alloy systems.

Several criteria are available in literature for selection of alloy compositions for metallic glasses. We have analyzed characteristics of glass-forming compositions numbering around 1000 in terms of three parameters. They refer toelectron to atom ratio (e/a), volume ratio (V R) and radius ratio (R R). Venn-Diagrams created based on these parameters for Fe-, Cu-, Zr-, Ti-, La-, Mg-, Co-, Al-, Ni- and Pd-based alloy systems will be presented. Relative importance of e/a, V R , and R R will be indicated. Having done this, we would like to understand the process of stabilization of Bulk Metallic Glasses (BMGs) in terms of Fermi surface (FS) and Pseudo Brillioun zone (PBZ) interaction. • Venn-diagrams for different alloy systems of BMGs are proposed. • Better GFA crosspond to those systems that lie in the intersection region of e/a, V R and R R in a given range. • Some of the BMG seems to be stabilizing owing to FS-PBZ interaction. • BMG compositions giving rise to large unit cell based intermetallics on crystallization seem to posses better GFA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]