In this study, we discovered that a small addition of Y is very effective in improving glass-forming ability of Fe-based alloys. As-cast bulk amorphous alloys containing 2 at.% Y showed large thermal stability, with glass transition temperatures above 900 K and supercooled liquid regions above 55 K, and high strength, with Vickers hardnesses larger than HV 1200. The beneficial effect of Y on glass formation is twofold: (1)Y adjusted the compositions closer to the eutectic and thus lowered their liquidus temperatures, and (2) Y improved the manufacturability of these alloys by scavenging the oxygen impurity from it via the formation of innocuous yttrium oxides.

Recent advancement in bulk metallic glasses, whose properties are usually superior to their crystalline counterparts, has stimulated great interest in fabricating bulk amorphous steels. While a great deal of effort has been devoted to this field, the fabrication of structural amorphous steels with large cross sections has remained an alchemist’s dream because of the limited glass-forming ability (GFA) of these materials. Here we report the discovery of structural amorphous steels that can be cast into glasses with large cross-section sizes using conventional drop-casting methods. These new steels showed interesting physical, magnetic, and mechanical properties, along with high thermal stability.

Glass transition and crystallization behavior of Mg75Ni10Nd15 metallic glass has been studied by a temperature-modulated differential scanning calorimeter (TMDSC) and a normal differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The truly vitreous state of the as-spun Mg75Ni10Nd15 alloy was confirmed by the direct observation of the glass transition through TMDSC measurements, which was not perceptible in the normal DSC heating scans. It was concluded that the glass transition signal was concealed by the relatively strong concurrent signal of the primary crystallization. This was further confirmed by the fact that the glass transition was revealed by both TMDSC and DSC for the samples with negligible heat release from the primary crystallization.