Ductile Zr-Based Bulk Metallic Glasses by Controlling Heterogeneous Microstructure from Phase Competition Strategy

In this paper, we prepare the alloys of Zr(41.2)Ti(13.8)Cu(12.5)Ni(10)Be(22.5), Zr(44.4)Ti(14.8)Cu(14.3)Ni(11.5)Be(15), and Zr(38)Ti(12.7)Cu(9.6)Ni(7.7)Be(32) to show the effects of alloy composition on the inhomogeneity structures and mechanical properties of Zr-based bulk metallic glasses (BMGs). Compared with the best glass former Zr(41.2)Ti(13.8)Cu(12.5)Ni(10)Be(22.5), some nanoscale inhomogeneity structures can be induced by shifting the compositions towards a primary phase in the alloys of Zr(44.4)Ti(14.8)Cu(14.3)Ni(11.5)Be(15) and Zr(38)Ti(12.7)Cu(9.6)Ni(7.7)Be(32). The room temperature compression tests reveal that theBMGs contained nanoscale inhomogeneity structures exhibit superior mechanical properties with the high strength of 1780 MPa and especially a remarkable plastic strain of over 9%. These findings provide a new perspective to enhance the ductility of BMGs by introducing nanoscale inhomogeneity structures based on the phase competition strategy.