Enhancement of glass-forming ability and corrosion resistance of Zr-based Zr-Ni-Al bulk metallic glasses with minor addition of Nb

Cu-free Zr-based bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) with high glass-forming ability (GFA) have been discovered in the Zr-Ni-Al-Nb system. The GFA of Zr-Ni-Al alloys can be significantly enhanced by the minor addition of Nb, which increases the glass transition temperature, and lowers the melting and liquidus temperatures. The Zr-Ni-Al-Nb BMGs have critical sample diameters of 15-20 mm as verified by a copper mold casting. They exhibit excellent corrosion resistance in chloride-ion-containing solutions, which is considerably better than that of other known Zr-based BMGs with superhigh GFA. It was revealed that the formation of highly protective Zr-, Al-, and Nb-enriched surface film is responsible for the high corrosion resistance. The BMGs also possess high compressive yield strength of 1786-1847 MPa, large plastic strain of 1.6-3.2%, and a high Poisson's ratio of 0.365-0.371.