An Introduction to Metallic Glasses and Amorphous Metals

1: Introduction
Materials as the basis of civilizations: Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age What is glass and what are amorphous materials; examples What is the difference between metallic alloys and metallic glasses History of making glasses Types of glasses: metallic, inorganic, organic; natural vs synthetic

2: Engineering applications of materials
Usage of materials in the world Cost and ecology of materials New materials: nano-materials, bio-materials, nano-optic materials

3: Making of materials
The three states of matter Liquid ↔ gas transformations: condensation and evaporation Liquid ↔ solid transformations: solidification and melting Solid ↔ solid transformations: smelting, hot working, cold working, transmutation Crystallisation: Classical nucleation theory (CNT), Crystal growth theory, Microstructure Vitrification: TTT diagram, rate of cooling to avoid crystallisation, AMJK theory, Vbilko-Naber method Raw materials: melting, mixing and homogenisation

4: Making of glasses
Liquid to solid transformations Making glass by quenching; up to 102 K/min: examples Making glass by splat cooling; up to 103 K/min: examples Making glass by spinning wheel; up to 104 K/min: examples Making glass by atomising in vacuum; up to 106 K/min: examples Nano-sample cooling in vacuum; up to 1014 K/min, making pure Ta, W, Ge and Al glasses Solid to solid transformation Transformation by heavy rolling Transformation by large displacement torsion Transformation under hydrostatic pressure Annealing and recrystallisation The effect of heating on solid materials

5: Characterisation of amorphous solids
Macroscopic identification of materials/metals Microscopic characterisation by electron microscopy: SEP, TEM, HRTEM, FIBSEM Experimental X-ray scattering; diffractometer and synchrotron radiation; essentials of theory of scattering: Debye equation, radial distribution function (g(r)), static structure factor (S(q)), coordination number Neutron scattering technique; analysis of results Mechanical properties: elasticity, hardness, fracture Chemical, electrical and magnetic properties Density of amorphous solids; density measurements Glass forming ability; differential scanning calorimetry

6: Structure and properties of metallic glasses
Models of atomic structure and arrangements in solids Packing of spheres, packing of flexible chains, rigid networks, chemical bonds: metal- lic, covalent, ionic Geometrical measures of packings: SRO, MRO, Voronoi tessellation, topology of clusters, volume fraction, packing fraction, measures of order and disorder Examples, bimetallic: Zr-Cu, Ni-Nb, ternary: Zr-Cu-Al, Mg-Cu-Gd, ..., multicom- ponent: Zr-Cu-Ni-Ti-Al, etc.

7: Introduction to thermodynamics of solids
Thermodynamic system Internal energy: potential energy and heat energy Enthalpy Entropy Second Law of Thermodynamics; Minimisation of free energy

8: Modelling the structure and predicting the properties of amorphous solids
Geometrical modelling of solids, physical models of solids Computer modelling of solids

9: Elastic properties of metallic glasses
Introduction to elastic behaviour of materials Experimental measurements of stress-strain behaviour, elastic constants, Poisson’s ratio, etc. Atomic structure evolution in bulk metallic glass under compressive stress, (2009) G.Wang, N. Mattern, S. Pauly, J. Bednarcik, and J. Eckert Correlation between elastic structural behavior and yield strength of metallic glasses, G. Wang, N. Mattern, J. Bednarcik, R. Li, B. Zhang, J. Eckert Correlation between atomic structure evolution and strength in a bulk metallic glass at cryogenic temperature

10: Plasticity of metallic glasses
Elementary introduction to plasticity of materials Stress-strain behaviour of a ductile material under uniaxial tension and com- pression case Mohr theory of failure Huber/von Mises theory of plastic behaviour of materials Dislocation theory of plastic deformation Free volume theory of plastic deformation Shear band theory of plastic deformation Effect of structure on plastic behaviour Effect of hydrostatic pressure on plastic behaviour

11: Fracture
Elementary introduction to fracture of materials Fracture behaviour of brittle metallic glasses Fracture behaviour of ductile metallic glasses Structural modifications to enhance ductility in metallic glasses

12: Creep and visoelastic behaviour
Elementary introduction to viscoelasticity of materials Linear viscoelastic behaviour, Boltzmann superposition principle Single relaxation time and block relaxation time models Definition of creep, creep activation energy Measurement of creep in metallic and other glasses Dynamic viscoelastic behaviour, α, β mechanical relaxations (f) Definition and measurement of viscosity Analytical theory of viscoelastic behaviour