Thermal and electric properties of metallic glasses and of crystalline
reference samples have been measured starting from room temperature u
p to the liquid state using a high-speed calorimeter. High heating rat
es phi = dT/dt are required to prevent the crystallization of the glas
ses. The glass temperature T(g) is found to increase continuously with
phi from a lower limit T(go) at phi < 0.1 K/s to an upper limit T(gin
finity) less-than-or-equal-to 1.25 T(go) reached at phi almost-equal-t
o 10(4) K/s and remaining constant for higher phi. Two empirical relat
ions exist between the entropy of fusion of a crystalline alloy, DELTA
AS(m) = DELTAH(m)/T(m) (enthalpy of fusion/melting temperature) and th
e properties T(ginfinity) and DELTAH(cro) (enthalpy of crystallization
) of the corresponding glass: DELTAS(m) = DELTAH(m)/T(m) almost-equal-
to (DELTAH(m) -DELTAH(cro))/T(ginfinity) almost-equal-to 3Rln(Tm/T(gin
finity)). These and related experimental results suggest that Tg(infin
ity) is the melting temperature of a glass, whereas T(go) marks the be
ginning of a thermally activated process in the solid glass, probably
homogenization, whence the relation T(ginfinity)/T(go) less-than-or-eq
ual-to 2 1/3 almost-equal-to 1.26 is derived.