| Abstract Scope |
Devitrification of metallic glasses (MGs) upon heating has seen much study over half a century. Intermetallic compounds (IMCs), including quasicrystals, are among the phases that form. Quasicrystals are of particular interest as their icosahedral ordering is also prominent in at least some metallic liquids and glasses. The kinetics of growth of IMCs in MGs is complex, and includes unusual combinations such as interface-limited rates with strong solute partitioning. Only with modern analytical techniques are such combinations being understood in terms of the very different diffusivities of different atomic species. Materials that are formed by devitrification can have attractive properties, and recent work shows that these composites can show good plasticity despite containing phases that are profoundly brittle, challenging our current understanding. Finally, we note that bulk MGs, with very narrow compositional ranges for their formation, might themselves be regarded as a type of IMC! |