Glass-forming ability of Pd_42.5Cu₃₀Ni _7.5P₂₀ alloy with a low critical cooling rate of 0.067 K/s

We investigated the glass-forming ability of three Pd-Cu-Ni-P alloys with different compositions (Pd₄₀Cu₃₀Ni₁₀P ₂₀, Pd_42.5Cu_27.5Ni₁₀P₂₀ and Pd_42.5Cu₃₀Ni_7.5P₂₀) under a continuous cooling condition. The lowest critical cooling rate for glass formation was determined to be 0.067 K/s for the Pd_42.5Cu ₃₀Ni_7.5P₂₀ alloy. The melting behavior indicates that the 7.5% Ni alloy has the nearest eutectic composition of the three alloys. The exceptionally low critical cooling rate of below 0.1 K/s is attributed to the elimination of the primary crystallization that occurs due to off-eutectic composition.