The influence of cooling rate on the formation of an amorphous phase in Si-based multicomponent alloys and its thermal stability

By adding Ni, Cr, and Zr to the Si–Al–Fe system and using a higher surface velocity of the copper wheel of 63 m/s, the composition range of an amorphous single phase was extended to 60 at% Si. An amorphous Si60Al18Fe12Ni4Cr3Zr3 alloy was produced. The amorphous phase in the Si–Al–TM (TM = transition metals) alloys shows higher thermal stability than in the Al–Si–TM alloys. By the shift of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) peaks with change of heating rate, the activation energy for the transformation was determined to be 343 kJ/mol for Si55Al20Fe10Ni5Cr5Zr5 alloy and 374 kJ/mol for Si50Al25Fe10Ni5Cr5Zr5 alloy.