There are no reported gold-rich alloys that are both readily glass forming
(RGF) upon rapid solidification processing (RSP) and, in the glassy state,
have crystallization temperatures Tc sufficiently high to insure
long metastable life times at room temperature. A representative of a new
family of ternary gold-based glasses is described that contain Cu and a rare
earth (RE) Metal (or Y), with total addition element concentrations as low
as 15 at. pet., and its crystallization characteristics are reported. Under
RSP processing by arc furnace hammer-and-anvil quenching, the alloy
Au0.80Cu0.10Y0.10 readily forms a
ductile glass, with Tc = 685 K, ΔHc = 1.25 kJ/g-Mole
and an activation energy of crystallization ΔE3 (cryst.) = 190
kJ/g-Mole.