Insights into the structure sustainable evolution and crystallization kinetics of amorphous Mg60Ni30La10 alloy

Nanocrystalline materials have wide potential applications due to the special properties, which can be easily prepared by nanocrystallization of the amorphous alloys. In this work, phase transformations of the melt-spun amorphous Mg60Ni30La10 alloy were characterized by in-situ XRD and TEM. The results showed that during crystallization Mg2Ni first formed from the amorphous matrix followed by LaMg3, LaMg2Ni and LaMgNi4. The phase transformation was completed rapidly, with nucleation progressing more prominently than grain growth. Nucleation and grain growth during crystallization were discussed according to Avrami index n(α) based on Kissinger equation. In addition, the classic Miedema theory was introduced to estimate the crystallization temperature and the nucleation frequency. Nucleation behaviors are closely related to the phase structures formed during the amorphous crystallization from the view of thermodynamics. This work provided a preliminary basis for controlling the evolution of amorphous/nanocrystalline structure of alloys.