Effect of Oxygen on Microstructure Evolution and Glass Formation of Zr-based Metallic Glasses

The effect of oxygen on the microstructure evolution and glass formation of Zr-based bulk metallic glasses (BMGs)was studied in detail.It was found that oxygen did not form oxides or dissolve in glass matrix,but induced the precipitation of α-Zr which has the high affinity and solubility of oxygen in the Zr-based bulk metallic glass (Zr-BMG).With the precipitation ofα-Zr,the remaining melts contain much lower oxygen content and have strong glass formation,resulting in the formation of α-Zr/BMG composite.The findings provide an important insight into the mechanism of the oxygen on glass formation,and give us a useful guideline to avoid the oxygen detrimental for de-signing new BMGs.