Ternary Sm–Al–Ni bulk metallic glasses

The present paper is concerned with the formation of the ternary Sm-based Sm-Al-Ni bulk metallic glasses. Composition design is carried out using our e/a- and cluster-related criteria. Three bulk metallic glasses, Sm54Al23Ni23, Sm56Al22Ni22 and Sm58Al21Ni21, are obtained by suction casting into rods with diameter of 3 mm. All of them share a constant e/a = 1.5 and fall along the e/a-constant composition line in the ternary composition diagram. The Sm54Al23Ni23 BMG exhibits the best thermal stability and glass-forming ability, which is located at the intersecting point of the e/a-constant line and the Sm7Ni3-Al cluster line. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.