Fe-based bulk metallic glasses with diameter thickness larger than one centimeter

Fe-Cr-Mo-(Y,Ln)-C-B bulk metallic glasses (Ln are lanthanides) with maximum diameter thicknesses reaching 12 mm have been obtained by casting. The high glass formability is attained despite a low reduced glass transition temperature of 0.58. The inclusion of Y/Ln is motivated by the idea that elements with large atomic sizes can destabilize the competing crystalline phase, enabling the amorphous phase to be formed. It is found that the role of Y/Ln as a fluxing agent is relatively small in terms of glass formability enhancement. The obtained bulk metallic glasses are non-ferromagnetic and exhibit high elastic moduli of approximately 180-200 GPa and microhardness of approximately 13 GPa.