Forming tendency and thermal stability of metallic glasses Cu74Ni12-xSnxP14

Abstract The effects of adding tin to the Cu-Ni-P system on the glass formation and thermal stability for rapidly quenched Cu74Ni12 -XP14 quaternary alloys have been investigated by X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry. The glass-forming range for the alloys was found to be 2-6 at.%Sn, and the glass-forming ability was improved because of the addition of tin. However, this enhancement initially increases and subsequently decreases with an increase in tin. On the other hand, the thermal stability of the metallic glasses decreases monotonically with increasing tin content. The onset crystallization temperature Txo decreases from 493.2 to 4704 K as the tin concentration increases from 2 to 6 at.%.