On the Relationship between the Properties of Metallic Glasses and Their Maternal Crystals

Abstract

It is reasonable to anticipate a relationship between the properties of metallic glasses (MGs) and the properties of their maternal crystals. With few exceptions, this question has not been addressed in the literature to date. Here, we briefly summarize the results of a comparative analysis of variations in the shear modulus, density, and heat effect kinetics of MGs undergoing structural relaxation, crystallization, and in the supercooled liquid state. We show that the heat effects and variations in the density can be determined from changes in the shear modulus of a MG relative to that of its maternal crystal, a result suggestive of an existence of inherent relationship between the properties of the MG and its maternal crystal. The maternal crystal can be considered, in terms of energy, as the ground state of MG in which an excess of internal energy arises from a system of interstitialcy-type defects that originate during melting and subsequent quenching of the melt.