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 1, and onset crystallization temperature T-g of amorphous Zr54Cu46 alloy increase in parallel, and the supercooled liquid region DeltaT(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. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.