Relaxation Processes of Two Glass Transitions for a Zr60Al15Ni25 Amorphous Alloy

Abstract
The relaxation behavior for the glass transition of a Zr60Al15Ni25 amorphous alloy with a wide supercooled liquid region is investigated through the changes of dynamic mechanical properties. Temperature-dependent storage and loss moduli reveal two relaxation systems suggesting two glass transitions. The activation energies are 400 and 420 kJ/mol for the lower and the higher temperature relaxations, respectively. Both of these relaxations have wider distribution of the relaxation time than that of the single relaxation of the Debye peak. The appearance of the two relaxation systems is attributed to the phase separation in the amorphous phase observed in the electron micrograph.