This paper presents tests of metallic glass based on Mg72Zn24Ca4 alloy. Metallic glass was made using induction melting and further injection on a rotating copper wheel. A differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) was used to investigate the phase transformation of an amorphous ribbon. The tests were carried out at an isothermal annealing temperature of 507 K. The Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mahl-Avrami-Evans model was used to analyze the crystallization kinetics of the amorphous Mg72Zn24Ca4 alloy. In this model, both Avrami's exponent n and transformation rate constant K were analyzed. Both of these kinetic parameters were examined as a function of time and the solid fraction. The Avrami exponent n value at the beginning of the crystallization process has value n = 1.9 and at the end of the crystallization process has value n = 3.6. The kinetic constant K values change in the opposite way as the exponent n. At the beginning of the crystallization process the constant K has value K = 9.19 × 10-7 s-n (ln(K) = -13.9) and at the end of the crystallization process has the value K = 6.19 × 10-9 s-n (ln(K) = -18.9). These parameters behave similarly, analyzing them as a function of the duration of the isothermal transformation. The exponent n increases and the constant K decreases with the duration of the crystallization process. With such a change of the Avrami exponent n and the transformation rate constant K, the crystallization process is controlled by the 3D growth on predetermined nuclei. Because each metallic glass has a place for heterogeneous nucleation, so called pre-existing nuclei, in which nucleation is strengthened and the energy barrier is lowered. These nuclei along with possible surface-induced crystallization, lead to rapid nucleation at the beginning of the process, and therefore a larger transformed fraction than expected for purely uniform nucleation. These sites are used and saturated with time, followed mainly by homogeneous nucleation. In addition, such a high value of the Avrami exponent n at the end of the crystallization process can cause the impingement effect, heterogeneous distribution of nuclei and the diffusion-controlled grain growth in the Mg72Zn24Ca4 metallic glassy alloy.
Keywords: Mg72Zn24Ca4 alloy; crystallization; kinetic model of Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Evans; metallic glass.