Crystallization kinetics and pressure effect on crystallization of Zr55Al10Ni5Cu30 bulk metallic glass

The crystallization kinetics and pressure effect on crystallization of the Zr55Al10Ni5Cu30 bulk metallic glass has been investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The microstructure with a coarse grain size is achieved by annealing the sample prepared at ambient pressure due to the short period of steady state nucleation and large contribution of the crystal growth. High pressure has a large effect on the crystallization process of Zr55Al10Ni5Cu30 BMG. High pressure suppresses the formation of Fd3m ‘big-cube’ phase and promotes the formation of Zr2Cu at the first crystallization process and favors the formation of Cu10Zr7 at the second crystallization process. The pressure is favorable to the formation of the high density of nanocrystallites. A fully nanocrystallization is obtained for the sample annealed under 5 GPa at 793 K.