Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol.125, No.2, 657-664, 2021
beta-Relaxation and Crystallization Behaviors in a Pulse-Current-Thermoplastic-Formed La-Based Bulk Metallic Glass
We use the pulse current thermoplastic forming technique based on joule heating to rejuvenate the atomic structure of a La62Al14Ag2.34Ni10.83Co10.83 bulk metallic glass (BMG). The pulse-formed sample exhibits more pronounced beta-relaxation than the as-cast one due to the increased free volume. Instead, the sub-T-g annealing clearly weakens the beta-relaxation and also makes it more isolated from the alpha-relaxation, showing contributions from free volume and preferred structure. However, both treatments exhibit little influence on the following a-relaxation and high temperature crystallization kinetics. Our results open an effective way to rejuvenate the structure of BMGs and provide an in-depth understanding of the relationship between structural relaxations and crystallization kinetics of BMGs.