Formation of monatomic metallic glasses through ultrafast liquid quenching
Formation of monatomic metallic glasses through ultrafast liquid quenching
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DOI：
10.1038/nature13617
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发表时间：
2014-08
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
L. Zhong;Jiangwei Wang;H. Sheng;Ze Zhang;S. Mao
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
L. Zhong;Jiangwei Wang;H. Sheng;Ze Zhang;S. Mao
长期以来人们推测，只要冷却速率足够高，任何金属液体都可以玻璃化成玻璃态,,,。然而，在实验上，单元素金属液体的玻璃化是非常困难的。单原子金属玻璃形成的真实实验室演示一直缺乏。在这里，我们报告了一种单原子金属液体玻璃化的实验方法，通过实现前所未有的高液体淬火速率 1014K s−1。在如此高的冷却速率下，纯难熔体心立方（bcc）金属（例如液态钽和钒）的熔体成功地玻璃化，形成适合性能研究的金属玻璃。结合原位透射电子显微镜观察和原子连续介质建模，我们研究了所获得的单原子金属玻璃的形成条件和热稳定性。单原子金属玻璃是最简单的玻璃形成体，它的出现为研究玻璃的结构和性能关系提供了独特的可能性。我们的技术还显示出对可逆玻璃化结晶过程的良好控制，表明其在微机电应用中的潜力。超高冷却速率接近实验中可达到的最高液体淬火速率，使得探索纳秒至皮秒范围内过冷金属液体的快速动力学和结构行为成为可能。
It has long been conjectured that any metallic liquid can be vitrified into a glassy state provided that the cooling rate is sufficiently high,,,. Experimentally, however, vitrification of single-element metallic liquids is notoriously difficult. True laboratory demonstration of the formation of monatomic metallic glass has been lacking. Here we report an experimental approach to the vitrification of monatomic metallic liquids by achieving an unprecedentedly high liquid-quenching rate of 1014K s−1. Under such a high cooling rate, melts of pure refractory body-centred cubic (bcc) metals, such as liquid tantalum and vanadium, are successfully vitrified to form metallic glasses suitable for property interrogations. Combiningin situtransmission electron microscopy observation and atoms-to-continuum modelling, we investigated the formation condition and thermal stability of the monatomic metallic glasses as obtained. The availability of monatomic metallic glasses, being the simplest glass formers, offers unique possibilities for studying the structure and property relationships of glasses. Our technique also shows great control over the reversible vitrification–crystallization processes, suggesting its potential in micro-electromechanical applications. The ultrahigh cooling rate, approaching the highest liquid-quenching rate attainable in the experiment, makes it possible to explore the fast kinetics and structural behaviour of supercooled metallic liquids within the nanosecond to picosecond regimes.