Matching Glass-Forming Ability with the Density of the Amorphous Phase
Y. Li,1,2*
Q. Guo,1,2
J. A. Kalb,1,3
C. V. Thompson1,3*
The density of the amorphous phase of metals is generally thought
to be related to glass formation, but this correlation has not
been demonstrated experimentally to date. In this work, systematic
deflection measurements using microcantilevers and a combinatorial
deposition method show a correlation between glass-forming ability
and the density change upon crystallization over a broad compositional
range in the copper-zirconium binary system. Distinct peaks
in the density of the amorphous phase were found to correlate
with specific maxima in the critical thickness for glass formation.
Our findings provide quantitative data for the development of
structural models of liquids that are readily quenched to the
amorphous state. The experimental method developed in this work
can facilitate the search for new glass-forming alloys.
2 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, 7 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117576.
3 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Present address: Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA 95054, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mseliy{at}nus.edu.sg (Y.L.); cthomp{at}mit.edu (C.V.T.)
