Cooling rate induced radial gradient structure in cylindrical metallic glasses

Abstract The mechanical property dependence of a typical Zr 52·5 Cu 17.9 Ni 14·6 Al 10 Ti 5 metallic glass on micro-structure has been investigated using nanoindentation. Heat flow equation was chosen to study cooling rate and the micro-structure during the casting process. Results show that cylindrical sample with larger dimension possesses a lower cooling rate, which leads to larger elastic modulus and higher hardness accordingly, and so is the center region compared to boundary in the cross section of a cylindrical specimen. To a certain extent, cylindrical metallic glasses are radial gradient structure induced by the cooling rate in a small range.