Stability and electronic structure of Zr-based ternary metallic glasses and relevant compounds

The electronic structure of the Zr-based metallic glasses has been investigated by theoretical and experimental approaches. One approach is band calculations of the Zr₂Ni (Zr_66.7Ni_33.3) compound to investigate the electronic structure of the Zr_66.7Ni_33.3 metallic glass (ΔT_x = 0 K) of which the local atomic structure is similar to that of the Zr₂Ni compound. The other is photoemission spectroscopy of the Zr₅₀Cu₃₅Al₁₅ bulk metallic glass (BMG) (ΔT_x = 69 K). Here ΔT_x = T_x - T_g where T_x and T_g are crystallization and glass transition temperature, respectively. Both results and previous ones on the Zr₅₅Cu₃₀Ni₅Al₁₀ BMG indicate that there is a pseudogap at the Fermi level in the electronic structure of these Zr-based metallic glasses, independent of the value of the ΔT_x. This implies that the pseudogap at the Fermi level is one of the factors that stabilize the glass phase of Zr-based metallic glasses.