High Pressure Studies on Group IV Transition Metals Based Metallic Glasses*

The compression behavior of Group IV transition metals based metallic glasses Ti37Zr29Cu15.5Ni14.5Be4 and Zr57Cu15.4Ni12.6Al10Nb5 are investigated at room temperature up to 74 GPa in a diamond anvil cell using in-situ energy and angular dispersive x-ray diffraction with a synchrotron radiation source. The x-ray diffraction studies did not reveal any pressure induced crystallization phenomenon in metallic glasses to a volume compression of 35 percent. In Zr-based metallic glass, a nanostructured tetragonal Zr2Ni phase was observed and also found to be stable to the highest pressure. The measured equation of state (Pressure-Volume curve) of Group IV transition metals based metallic glasses is compared to the known high phases of transition metals.