High-entropy induced a glass-to-glass transition in a metallic glass

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 2183
• Main Authors: Luan, Hengwei, Zhang, Xin, Ding, Hongyu, Zhang, Fei, Luan, J. H., Jiao, Z. B., Yang, Yi-Chieh, Bu, Hengtong, Wang, Ranbin, Gu, Jialun, Shao, Chunlin, Yu, Qing, Shao, Yang, Zeng, Qiaoshi, Chen, Na, Liu, C. T., Yao, Ke-Fu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 21.04.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 147/143; 639/301/1023/1026; 639/301/1023/218; Amorphous materials; Crystallization; Entropy; Glass transition; glasses; Heat transfer; Humanities and Social Sciences; MATERIALS SCIENCE; Metallic glasses; metals and alloys; multidisciplinary; Phase transitions; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Synchrotron radiation; Synchrotrons; Thermal stability; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29789-1

Glass-to-glass transitions are useful for us to understand the glass nature, but it remains difficult to tune the metallic glass into significantly different glass states. Here, we have demonstrated that the high-entropy can enhance the degree of disorder in an equiatomic high-entropy metallic glass NbNiZrTiCo and elevate it to a high-energy glass state. An unusual glass-to-glass phase transition is discovered during heating with an enormous heat release even larger than that of the following crystallization at higher temperatures. Dramatic atomic rearrangement with a short- and medium-range ordering is revealed by in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction analyses. This glass-to-glass transition leads to a significant improvement in the modulus, hardness, and thermal stability, all of which could promote their applications. Based on the proposed high-entropy effect, two high-entropy metallic glasses are developed and they show similar glass-to-glass transitions. These findings uncover a high-entropy effect in metallic glasses and create a pathway for tuning the glass states and properties. Glass-to-glass transitions can help understanding the glass nature, but it remains difficult to tune metallic glasses into significantly different glass states. Here the authors demonstrate the high-entropy effects in glass-to-glass transitions of high-entropy metallic glasses.