Thermodynamic approach to quantitative assessment of propensity of metallic melts to amorphization

On thermodynamic grounds, it was found that key properties that control the capacity of molten metallic alloys for transition into an amorphous state are the excess (configurational) entropy and heat capacity of the liquid. Chemical short-range order in liquids exhibiting various ten-dencies to glass formation was analyzed on the basis of the associated solution theory and the results of detailed thermodynamic research on a wide set of alloys. An interrelation was established between the association, characteristics of molten alloys (viscosity η, activation energies of viscous flow, and crystallization) that determine the possibility of amorphization and characteristics of glassy state stability (glass transition point, Gibbs energy, and enthalpy of crystallization). It was demonstrated that the magnitude of the key functions is completely determined by the covalent constituent of chemical interaction between components and depends mainly on the entropy terms of association reactions. The prospects for developing the quantitative criteria of amorphization on the basis of the entropy of association was discussed. It was also shown that the suggested approach based on taking into accoun the specificity of chemical interaction between components can be useful for prediction of physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of solid amorphous metallic materials.