Plasticity improvement of Zr₅₅Al₁₀Ni₅Cu₃₀ bulk metallic glass by remelting master alloy ingots

The effect of repeated melting of master alloy ingots on the bending properties of Zr₅₅Al₁₀Ni₅Cu₃₀ bulk metallic glass (BMG) was investigated. The bending plasticity of Zr₅₅Al₁₀Ni₅Cu₃₀ BMG was found to be improved with the increased remelting times. When remelted 10 times, the BMG sample cast from the master alloy ingot undergoes bending, but it does not fracture even though the bending angle increases to 100°; the maximum bending stress and elastic strain remain almost constant. The bending plasticity improvement may be attributed to the fact that the increased remelting times result in more free volume and more disorder and homogeneous microstructure in the BMG, which favors the initial nucleation of profuse shear bands and reduces the probability of catastrophic fracture.