Primary crystals in ZrTiCuNiBe bulk glasses

ZrTiCuNiBe glasses can be prepared in massive form by quenching of the liqu id melt with a cooling rate of about 10 K s(-1). During cooling down of the melt a small fraction of primary crystals in the glassy matrix is difficul t to avoid. Morphology, microstructure and chemical composition of these pr imary crystals have been investigated by optical microscopy, transmission e lectron microscopy (TEM) and TEM-EDX. Two types of crystal morphology were observed, dendritic and prismatic. TEM-EDX analysis (which cannot detect Be ) indicate that these two types of crystals have similar composition. TEM d iffraction of the prismatic crystals revealed an ordered orthorhombic struc ture with lattice parameters of a = 0.37 nm, b = 0.66 nm, c = 0.63 nm. The true composition of the prismatic crystals and the matrix was determined by FIM/AP-analysis. This analysis revealed a composition of the prismatic cry stals according to ZrBe2 with small additions of Ti, Cu and Ni. (C) 1999 Pu blished by Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.