Electromagnetic vibration process for producing bulk metallic glasses.

It is known that the cooling rate from the liquid state is an important factor in the production of bulk metallic glasses. However, the effects of other factors such as electric and magnetic fields have not been thoroughly investigated. Here, we present a new method for producing bulk metallic glasses by using electromagnetic vibrations with simultaneous imposition of an alternating electric current and a magnetic field. This method was found to be effective in enhancing apparent glass-forming ability in Mg65-Cu25-Y10 (atomic percent) alloys. Indeed, larger bulk metallic glasses could be obtained by the electromagnetic vibration process under the same cooling conditions. We presume that disappearance or decrement of clusters by the electromagnetic vibrations applied to the liquid state cause suppression of crystal nucleation. This electromagnetic vibration process should be effective in other bulk metallic glass systems if the clusters in the liquid state cause the crystal nucleation.