Properties of high-density, well-ordered, and high-energy metallic glass phase designed by pressurized quenching

We applied gigapascal-level compressive hydrostatic pressure to the melt-quenching process of metallic glass to obtain a unique high-pressure glass state with high density that is well-ordered yet has high energy. This state contradicts the common understanding that high-density, well-ordered metallic glass states have low energy. Through molecular dynamics simulations, we found that the high-pressure glass state of the metallic glass Zr₅₀Cu₄₀Al₁₀ has a rich anti-free volume and that its relaxation is dominated by the annihilation of full icosahedra and the rich anti-free volume. The aging rate of the high-pressure metallic glass state (energy reduction rate) is almost the same as that of typical high-energy metallic glass, suggesting that it has a lifetime similar to that of a typical high-energy metallic glass that has been experimentally realized and reported previously [Wakeda et al., Sci. Rep. 5, 10545 (2015)]. Thus, the high-pressure phase can be realized even under the experimental cooling rate, suggesting its suitability for practical applications.