Second amorphous-to-crystalline phase transformation in Cu60Ti20Zr20 bulk metallic glass

The second amorphous-to-crystalline phase transformation in Cu60Ti20Zr20 bulk metallic glass was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and x-ray diffractometry. The difference of the Gibbs free energies between the amorphous phase and the crystalline products during the transformation is estimated to be about 2.46 kJ mol(-1) at 753 K, much smaller than the 61 kJ mol(-1) obtained assuming that it is a polymorphic transformation. It was revealed that the phase transformation occurs through a eutectic crystallization of Cu51Zr14 and Cu2TiZr14 having an effective activation energy of the order of 400 kJ mol(-1). The average Avrami exponent n is about 2.0, indicating that the crystallization is diffusion controlled.