Identification of compositions with highest glass forming ability in multicomponent systems by thermodynamic and topological approaches

Compositions with easy bulk metallic glass formation have been identified in quinary systems with the Gibbs-energy change between the amorphous and solid solution phases as the thermodynamic parameter. The Gibbs-energy change has been calculated with the help of Miedema, Miracle, mismatch entropy, and configurational entropy models. The best glass forming composition has been identified by drawing iso-Gibbs-energy change contours by representing quinary systems as pseudo-ternary ones. Attempts have been made to correlate the Gibbs-energy change with different existing glass forming criteria and it is found that the present thermodynamic parameter has good correlation with the reduced glass transition temperature. Further, encouraging correlations have been obtained between the energy required for amorphization during mechanical alloying to the Gibbs-energy change between the amorphous and solid solutions. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.