This book deepens the current understanding of the thermodynamics and kinetics of metallic glass-forming liquids, and their connection with the glass-formation process in terms of fundamental physical metallurgy concepts. It surveys and reports on the progress made in the last few decades to access the ultra-viscous liquid state of thermally stable bulk metallic glass (BMG) forming alloys and study the changes in atomic structure, viscosity, and enthalpy during the vitrification including physical aging.

Featuring a comprehensive look at the physical properties of the undercooled liquid in the ultra-viscous state at temperatures near the glass transition, the book reports on detailed investigations of the thermodynamic functions, viscosity, volume, relaxation time, and structural ordering in the undercooled liquid. Additionally, it introduces state-of-the-art in-situ characterization tools such as chip-calorimetry, synchrotron x-ray diffraction, and x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy as applied to novel studies of liquid-liquid transitions in the supercooled liquid and in the vicinity of the glass transition, and establishes these common, if not universal, phenomena in BMG-forming alloys.

This book is intended for researchers, graduate students, and professionals in the fields of materials science, physical metallurgy, and condensed matter physics, who are interested in the thermodynamics and kinetics of metallic glass-forming liquids and their connection with the glass formation process.

Autorentext

Isabella Gallino is an Italian chemist who was educated in Italy, USA and Germany. She has received a Laurea in Chemistry from the University of Torino, a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the Oregon State University and an Habilitation in Physical Metallurgy from the Saarland University. She has more than 20 years of research experience in the field of metallic glasses. Her research interests include both technical and fundamental science aspects, especially on the thermodynamic properties of stable and metastable phases. She became in 2024 full Professor of Materials Science and Technology at the TU-Berlin leading the Chair of Metallic Materials.

Ralf Busch is a German physicist specialized in materials science. He is known for his research in the field of bulk metallic glasses. After receiving his Diplom and Doctorate in Physics from the Georg-August University in Göttingen he went to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena (USA) as a Feodor Lynen Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. There he began working in the field of bulk metallic glasses in the group of W. L. Johnson. In 1999, he became Assistant Professor of Materials Science in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Oregon State University, where he became Associate Professor in 2004. Since 2005 he is full Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Saarland University leading the Chair of Metallic Materials.