Oxidation of Zr-based Bulk Amorphous and Nanocrystalline Alloys

Abstract: Novel multicomponent Zr-based alloys like Zr-Ti-Cu-Ni-Be and Zr-Cu-Ni-Al form an important class of bulk metallic glasses with some interesting applications. Nanocrystalline forms of these alloys have been obtained by thermal annealing. Interest in bulk amorphous alloys and their nanocrystalline forms has considerably grown in recent times due to their ability to offer scope for carrying out research investigations in amorphous, supercooled liquid and nanocrystalline states of a bulk glassy alloy. Despite several studies done on the oxidation behaviour of conventional melt-spun amorphous alloys, very few studies are available on oxidation of bulk metallic glasses. The paper describes the current status of oxidation research in bulk amorphous alloys and their nanocrystalline forms obtained after annealing. Some novel results from the author's recent work carried out on oxidation of the bulk amorphous alloy Zr65Cu17.5Ni10Al7.5 in air in its amorphous and the supercooled liquid states in the temperature range 573 K- 663 K using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) will also be presented