Comparison of nucleation and growth mechanisms in alloy solidification to those in metallic glass crystallisation - Relevance to modeling

The development of microstructure during phase transformations is often best understood by considerations of nucleation in the parent material followed by growth of the new phase. This is a mature research field in alloy solidification, thanks to extensive investigations of nucleation and dendritic growth in cooling alloy melts. Bulk metallic glasses, on the other hand, typically do not form crystals on cooling from above the liquidus to below the glass transition temperature, resulting in very strong hard materials. As BMG toughness can be enhanced by a crystallising anneal, the study of nucleation and growth of crystals in viscous multi-component liquids has become an important topic for study. Such devitrification can lead to crystalline-glass composites or bulk nano-crystalline alloys, and the micro-or nano-structure is controlled by phenomena such as diffusion of solute and heat, and impingement dynamics. The relevance of solidification theories of nucleation, growth and impingement to crystallisation in amorphous alloys is discussed in this paper. The effects of the key differences between phase transformations in alloy casting processes and those in alloy devitrification on development of computational models for process simulation are highlighted.