It is known that the cooling rate from the liquid state is an important factor in the production of bulk metallic glasses. However, the effects of other factors such as electric and magnetic fields have not been thoroughly investigated. Here, we present a new method for producing bulk metallic glasses by using electromagnetic vibrations with simultaneous imposition of an alternating electric current and a magnetic field. This method was found to be effective in enhancing apparent glass-forming ability in Mg65-Cu25-Y10 (atomic percent) alloys. Indeed, larger bulk metallic glasses could be obtained by the electromagnetic vibration process under the same cooling conditions. We presume that disappearance or decrement of clusters by the electromagnetic vibrations applied to the liquid state cause suppression of crystal nucleation. This electromagnetic vibration process should be effective in other bulk metallic glass systems if the clusters in the liquid state cause the crystal nucleation.

The present authors reported that a new method for producing Mg-Cu-Y bulk metallic glasses by using electromagnetic vibrations is effective in forming the metallic glass phase, and disappearance or decrement of clusters by the electromagnetic vibrations applied to a liquid state is presumed to cause suppression of crystal nucleation [Nature Materials 4 (2005) 289]. This paper aims to investigate the effects of the intensity and frequency of electromagnetic vibrations on apparent glass-forming ability in the Mg-Cu-Y bulk metallic glasses. It was found that the apparent glass-forming ability of Mg 65 Cu 25 Y 10 alloys increases with increasing the frequency of electromagnetic vibrations up to 5000 Hz. The effects of frequency more than 5000 Hz could not be investigated because of alternating current power devices. Moreover, it was found that the apparent glass-forming ability of Mg 65 Cu 25 Y 10 alloys increases with increasing the intensity of electromagnetic vibrations by an electric current or a magnetic flux density. However, increasing excessively the electric current was found to weaken the enhancement of the apparent glass-forming ability by using the electromagnetic vibration process because the crystalline particles grow larger by the Joule heat.

No abstract

No abstract