THERMAL, MECHANICAL AND PHYSICAL-PROPERTIES OF SUPERCOOLED LIQUID IN PD-CU-NI-P AMORPHOUS ALLOY

The thermal stability, storage modulus (E'), loss tangent (tan delta), temperature coefficient of thermal expansion (alpha) and electrical r esistivity of a supercooled liquid were measured for an amorphous Pd40 Cu30Ni10P20 alloy with a wide supercooled liquid region before crystal lization. The wide supercooled liquid region of 80 K is retained even at the low heating rate of 0.083 K/s. The E' of the supercooled liquid decreases monotonously from 6.0 to 0.35 GPa with increasing temperatu re from 540 to 590 K and the tan delta increases from 0.07 to 0.52. Th ese changes takes place through a single stage. The a value of the sup ercooled liquid is measured to be 2.0 x 10(-2) K-1 which is larger by three orders than that (2.0 x 10(-5) K-1) for the corresponding amorph ous solid. The electrical resistivity decreases through two stages in the range from 2.27 to 2.15 mu Omega m in the supercooled liquid from 563 to 648 K. These physical and mechanical properties of the supercoo led liquid are significantly different from those for the correspondin g amorphous solid and important for future development of basic scienc e of supercooled liquid and bulk amorphous alloys.