Transmission electron microscopy （TEM） is usually used to identify the amorphicity. However, some artifacts may be introduced due to improper TEM foil preparation. In this paper, three Al-rich metallic glasses with and without a glass transition were selected for characterizing the effect of the electropolishing condition on the as-quenched structure during TEM specimen preparation. It is shown that the occurrence of the modulated bright-dark structure under TEM observation is closely sensitive to the electropolishing condition, which suggests us being careful about the possible artifacts induced by specimen preparation when examining amorphous alloys under TEM.
Hongwang YANG Xinchun CHANG Wanliang HOU Jianqiang WANG
The glass formation was investigated in the melt-spun Al-rich Al-Co-Y alloys by the microstructure evolution. The best glass former Al88Co5Y7 with the thickness of 230μm was found, and its glass forming ability （GFA） was higher than that of previously reported Al88Co4Y8 alloy. This result indicates that GFA is strongly sensitive to the alloy composition in the system. The phase selection method is an effective way to locate the optimum glass formation composition rather than Trg and △Tx parameters.
Pan DONG Jia ZHANG Wanliang HOU Xinchun CHANG Jianqiang WANG Mingxiu QUAN
