Ion beam mixing to study the metallic glass formation of the Cu-Zr system

An ion beam mixing experiment for Cu-Zr system was conducted and two supersaturated solid solutions were observed with compositions of 16 atom% Zr in Cu and 17 atom% Cu in Zr, respectively, which are much greater than almost nil found from the equilibrium phase diagram of Cu-Zr system. The observation indicates that Cu-Zr metallic glasses could possibly be obtained in composition range bounded by the two observed solid solubilities, i.e. 16-83 atom% Zr. Besides, a unique Cu₆₅Zr₃₅ metallic glass was obtained by ion beam mixing and its composition is very close to the so-called best composition referred in the literature.