New criteria of glass forming ability, thermal stability and characteristic temperatures for various bulk metallic glass systems

Six mathematical criteria used for quantitatively measuring their glass forming ability, thermal stability and characteristic temperatures (temperature of glass transition Tg, crystallization onset Tx and liquidus Tl) of various bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) have been proposed in this article. It is found that the criteria are suitable for evaluating these quantities for BMGs. The estimated results are better than those calculated by Fang et al.ʹs models and Lu et al.ʹs γ criterion, but our analyses indicate that these criteria, defined by the data (Pauling electronegativity xi, atomic radius ri, electron concentration ni and melting temperature Tmi) easily found in literatures, still need to be further refined in future research for shortcomings of the parameters.