Composition range of binary amorphous alloys

Abstract

We have studied a number of binary metal-metal and metalloid alloy systems made by a single vapor-quench method under very consistent conditions. In each case, amorphous alloys are found in one continuous composition range ($x_{\min \mathrm{\le }\mathrm{x}\mathrm{\le }{x}_{\max )}}$ regardless of the number of eutectic points in the equilibrium phase diagrams. It is found that the atomic size difference is the single most important factor in the quantitative determination of the composition range.