Aluminum (Al) and its alloys are widely used in various technological applications, mainly due to the excellent thermal conductivity, non-magnetic, ecofriendly, easy formability and good recyclability. However due to the inferior corrosion resistance its applications are hampered in various engineering sectors. Besides, the corrosion related failures such as leakage of gas from pipeline, catastrophic breakdown of bridges and fire accidents in processing plants further puts the human life in jeopardy. Within the United States over $ 400 billion dollars per year are spent over research to understand and prevent the corrosion related failures. Recently, the development of transition metal(TM) aluminides (AlxTMy, where, TM = Mo, W, Ta, Nb, Cr, Zr and V) has received the global attention mainly due to high strength at elevated temperatures, light-weight, excellent corrosion and wear resistance. In light of this, surface modification via laser surface alloying (LSA) is a promising engineering approach to mitigate the corrosion and wear problems. In the present study the attempts are made to study the Al-Mo, Al-W, Al-Nb, and Al-Ta systems as a potential corrosion resistant coatings on aluminum. The refractory metal (Mo, W, Nb, Ta) precursor deposit was spray coated separately on aluminum substrate and was subsequently surface alloyed …

Bioactive glasses are a class of synthetic inorganic material that have wide orthopedics, dentistry, tissue engineering and other biomedical applications. The origin of the bioactivity is closely related to the atomic structures of these novel glass materials, which otherwise lack long range order and defies any direct experimental measurements due to their amorphous nature. The structure of bioactive glasses is thus essential for the understanding of bioactive behaviors and eventually rational design of glass compositions. In this dissertation, molecular dynamics (MD) and reverse monte carlo (RMC) based computer simulations have been used to systematically study the atomic structure of three classes of new bioactive glasses: strontium doped 45S5 Bioglass®, ZnO-SrO containing bioactive glasses, and Cao-MgO-P2O5-SiO2 bioactive glasses. Properties such as ionic diffusion that are important to glass dissolution behaviors are also examined as a function of glass compositions. The accuracy of structure model generated by simulation was validated by comparing with various experimental measurements including X-ray/neutron diffraction, NMR and Raman spectroscopy. It is shown in this dissertation that atomistic computer simulations, when integrated with structural and property characterizations, is an effective tool in understanding the structural origin of bioactivity and other properties of amorphous bioactive materials that can lead to …

Junctions are the key component for 3D carbon nanotube (CNT)-graphene seamless hybrid nanostructures. Growth mechanism of junctions of vertical CNTs growing from graphene in the presence of iron catalysts was simulated via quantum mechanical molecular dynamics (QM/MD) methods. CNTs growth from graphene with iron catalysts is based on a ‘‘base-growth’’ mechanism, and the junctions were the mixture of C-C and Fe-C covalent bonds. Pure C-C bonded junctions could be obtained by moving the catalyst during CNT growth or etching and annealing after growth. The growth process of 3D CNT-graphene junctions on copper templates with nanoholes was simulated with molecular dynamic (MD) simulation. There are two mechanisms of junction formation: (i) CNT growth over the holes that are smaller than 3 nm, and (ii) CNT growth inside the holes that are larger than 3 nm. The growth process of multi-layer filleted CNT-graphene junctions on the Al2O3 template was also simulated with MD simulation. A simple analytical model is developed to explain that the fillet takes the particular angle (135°). MD calculations show that 135° filleted junction has the largest fracture strength and thermal conductivity at room temperature compared to junctions with 90°,120°, 150°, and 180° fillets. The tensile strengths of the …

Decreasing the carbon footprint through use of renewable materials has environmental and societal impact. Foams are a valuable constituent in buildings by themselves or as a core in sandwich composites. Kenaf is a Southeast USA plant that provides renewable filler. The core of the kenaf is porous with a cell size in a 5-10 micrometer range. The use of kenaf core in foams represents a novel multiscalar cellular structural composite. Rigid polyurethane foams were made using free foaming expansion with kenaf core as filler with loadings of 5, 10 and 15 %. Free foaming was found to negatively affect the mechanical properties. An innovative process was developed to introduce a constraint to expansion during foaming. Two expansion ratios were examined: 40 and 60 % (decreasing expansion ratio). MicroCT and SEM analysis showed a varying structure of open and closed cell pores. The mechanical, thermal insulation, acoustic properties were measured. Pure PU foam showed improved cell size uniformity. Introducing kenaf core resulted in decreasing the PU performance in the free expansion case. This was reversed by introducing constraints. To understand the combined impact of having a mixed close cell and open cell architecture, finite element modeling was done using ANSYS. Models …

Understanding the relationships between microstructures and properties of materials is a key to developing new materials with more suitable qualities or employing the appropriate materials in special uses. In the present world of material research, the main focus is on microstructural control to cost-effectively enhance properties and meet performance specifications. This present work is directed towards improving the fundamental understanding of the microscale deformation mechanisms and mechanical behavior of metallic alloys, particularly focusing on face centered cubic (FCC) structured metals through a unique computational methodology called three-dimensional dislocation dynamics (3D-DD). In these simulations, the equations of motion for dislocations are mathematically solved to determine the evolution and interaction of dislocations. Microstructure details and stress-strain curves are a direct observation in the simulation and can be used to validate experimental results. The effect of initial dislocation microstructure on the yield strength has been studied. It has been shown that dislocation density based crystal plasticity formulations only work when dislocation densities/numbers are sufficiently large so that a statistically accurate description of the microstructure can be obtainable. The evolution of the flow stress for grain sizes ranging from 0.5 to 10 µm under uniaxial tension was simulated using an improvised model by integrating …

The current study focuses on phase stability and evolution in the titanium-zinc titanium-copper and titanium-antimony systems. The study utilized the Laser Engineering Net Shaping (LENS™) processing technique to deposit compositionally graded samples of three binary system in order to allow the assessment of phase stability and evolution as a function of composition and temperature the material is subjected to. Through LENS™ processing it was possible to create graded samples from Ti-xSb (up to 13wt%) and Ti-xCu (up to 16wt%). The LENS™ deposited gradient were solutionized, and step quenched to specific aging temperature, and the resulting microstructures and phase were characterized utilizing XRD, EDS, SEM, FIB and TEM. The Ti-Zn system proved incapable of being LENS™ deposited due to the low vaporization temperature of Zn; however, a novel processing approach was developed to drip liquid Zn onto Ti powder at temperatures above β transus temperature of Ti (882 ◦C) and below the vaporization temperature of Zn (907 ◦C). The product of this processing technique was characterized in a similar way as the graded LENS™ depositions. From measurements performed on Ti-Sb it seems that Sb could be a potential α stabilizer in Ti due to the presence of a mostly homogeneous α …

Our research focuses on re-using a waste a material, cross-linked polyethylene abbreviated XLPE, which is a widely used coating for wires. XLPE is strong and has excellent thermal properties due to its chemical structure - what leads to the significance of recycling this valuable polymer. Properties of XLPE include good resistance to heat, resistance to chemical corrosion, and high impact strength. A wire is usually composed of a metal core conductor and polymeric coating layers. One creates a new coating, including little pieces of recycled XLPE in the lower layer adjacent to the wire, and virgin XLPE only in the upper layer. Industries are often wasting materials which might be useful. Mostly, some returned or excess products could be recycled to create a new type of product or enable the original use. This method helps cleaning the waste, lowers the costs, and enhances the income of the manufacturing company. With the changing of the thickness of the outer layer, the roughness changes significantly. Moreover, different processing methods result in surfaces that look differently.

Polymer nanocomposites are a going part of Materials Science and Engineering. These new composite materials exhibit dimensional and thermal stability of inorganic materials and toughness and dielectric properties of polymers. Development of nanocomposites become an important approach to create high-performance composite materials. In this study silica, fly ash, silica nanotubes and carbon black particles have been added to modify polyurethane foam and thermoplastic polyurethanes. It has been found that the addition of silica can diminish the size of foam bubbles, resulting in an increased stiffness of the material, increase of the compressive strength, and greater resistance to deformation. However, the uniformity of bubbles is reduced, resulting in increased friction of the material. Fly ash added to the foam can make bubbles smaller and improve uniformity of cells. Therefore, the material stiffness and compressive strength, resistance to deformation, and has little impact on the dynamic friction of the material. Adding nanotubes make bubble size unequal, and the arrangement of the bubble uneven, resulting in decreased strength of the material, while the friction increases. After the addition of carbon black to the polyurethane foam, due to the special surface structure of the carbon black, the foam generates more bubbles during the foaming …

Since their discovery in the 1930s, polymeric foams have been widely used in the industry for a variety of applications such as acoustical and thermal insulation, filters, absorbents etc. The reason for this ascending trend can be attributed to factors such as cost, ease of processing and a high strength to weight ratio compared to non-foamed polymers. The purpose of this project was to develop an “indestructible” material made of polycarbonate (PC) for industrial applications. Due to the high price of polycarbonate, two foaming methods were investigated to reduce the amount of material used. Samples were foamed physically in supercritical CO2 or chemically with 5-phenyl-1H-tetrazole. After thermal characterization of the foams in differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), we saw that none of the foaming methods had an influence on the glass transition of polycarbonate. Micrographs taken in scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that foams obtained in physical and chemical foaming had different structures. Indeed, samples foamed in supercritical CO2 exhibited a microcellular opened-cell structure with a high cell density and a homogeneous cell distribution. On the other hand, samples foamed with 5-phenyl-1H-tetrazole had a macrocellular closed-cell structure with a much smaller cell density and a random cell distribution. Compression testing showed …

Mg alloys have spurred a renewed academic and industrial interest because of their ultra-light-weight and high specific strength properties. Hexagonal close packed Mg has low deformability and a high plastic anisotropy between basal and non-basal slip systems at room temperature. Alloying with Li and other elements is believed to counter this deficiency by activating non-basal slip by reducing their nucleation stress. In this work I study how Li addition affects deformation mechanisms in Mg using atomistic simulations. In the first part, I create a reliable and transferable concentration dependent embedded atom method (CD-EAM) potential for my molecular dynamics study of deformation. This potential describes the Mg-Li phase diagram, which accurately describes the phase stability as a function of Li concentration and temperature. Also, it reproduces the heat of mixing, lattice parameters, and bulk moduli of the alloy as a function of Li concentration. Most importantly, our CD-EAM potential reproduces the variation of stacking fault energy for basal, prismatic, and pyramidal slip systems that influences the deformation mechanisms as a function of Li concentration. This success of CD-EAM Mg-Li potential in reproducing different properties, as compared to literature data, shows its reliability and transferability. Next, I use this newly created potential …

The relatively low oxidation resistance and subsequent surface embrittlement have often limited the use of titanium alloys in elevated temperature structural applications. Although extensive effort is spent to investigate the high temperature oxidation performance of titanium alloys, the studies are often constrained to complex technical titanium alloys and neither the mechanisms associated with evolution of the oxide scale nor the effect of oxygen ingress on the microstructure of the base metal are well-understood. In addition lack of systematic oxidation studies across a wider domain of the alloy composition has complicated the determination of composition-mechanism-property relationships. Clearly, it would be ideal to assess the influence of composition and exposure time on the oxidation resistance, independent of experimental variabilities regarding time, temperature and atmosphere as the potential source of error. Such studies might also provide a series of metrics (e.g., hardness, scale, etc) that could be interpreted together and related to the alloy composition. In this thesis a novel combinatorial approach was adopted whereby a series of compositionally graded specimens, (Ti-xMo, Ti-xCr, Ti-xAl and Ti-xW) were prepared using Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS™) technology and exposed to still-air at 650 °C. A suite of the state-of-the-art characterization techniques were employed to assess …

In-situ x-ray photoemission (XPS) and ex-situ FTIR studies of nanoporous organosilicate glass (OSG) films point to the separate roles of radicals vs. VUV photons in the carbon abstraction. The studies indicate that reaction with O2 in presence of VUV photons (~123 nm) result in significant carbon abstraction within the bulk and that the kinetics of this process is diffusion-limited. In contrast, OSG exposed to atomic O (no VUV) results in Si-C bond scission and Si-O bond formation, but this process is self-limiting after formation of ~1 nm thick SiO2 surface layer that inhibits further diffusion. Therefore, the diffusion-dominated kinetics of carbon abstraction observed for OSG exposed to O2 plasma is definitively attributed to the diffusion of O2 down OSG nanopores, reacting at photo-activated sites, rather than to the diffusion of atomic O. Pretreatment of OSG by 900 eV Ar+ ion bombardment also results in formation of 1 nm thick SiO2-like surface overlayer that inhibits O2 diffusion, inhibiting VUV+O2 and O2 plasma-induced reactions, and that the effectiveness of this treatment increases with ion kinetic energy. On the contrary, organosilicate glass (OSG) films with backbone carbon (-Si-R-Si-) exhibit significantly enhanced resistance to carbon loss upon exposure to O2 plasma, radicals and VUV+O2 …

The effect of friction stir processing (FSP) on the mechanical wear behavior was investigated for Ti-1Al-8V-5Fe (Ti-185) and stainless steel (Incoloy® A-286) alloys. The Ti-185 and A-286 alloys were tested in different processing conditions, including as rolled (AR), AR+FSP, and AR+FSP+aged. A high frequency reciprocating rig was used to simulate fretting-type wear of these alloys at room temperature. The Vickers micro-hardness and wear rates were calculated and compared for each processing condition. It was determined that along with increasing hardness in the stir zones, FSP resulted in improved wear resistance for both alloys. Specifically, wear rates in the stir zones were reduced to lowest values of 1.6 x 10-5 and 5.8 x 10-7 mm3/N·m for the AR+FSP+aged Ti-185 and A-286 alloys, respectively, despite lower hardness for A-286 alloy. Mechanistic studies were conducted to determine the reason behind these improvements in wear resistance and the effect of FSP on the microstructural evolution during wear. For the Ti-185 alloy, x-ray diffraction revealed that there was a phase transformation from β-Ti (AR+FSP) to α-Ti (AR+FSP+aged). This phase decomposition resulted in the harder and stiffer Ti phase responsible for lowering of wear rate in Ti-185. While x-ray diffraction confirmed the A-286 alloy retains its …

Ultra-fine grained materials with sub-micrometer grain size exhibit superior mechanical properties when compared with conventional fine-grained material as well as coarse-grained materials. Severe plastic deformation (SPD) techniques have been shown to be an effective way to modify the microstructure in order to improve the mechanical properties of the material. Crystalline materials require dislocations to accommodate plastic strain gradients and maintain lattice continuity. The lattice curvature exists due to the net dislocation that left behind in material during deformation. The characterization of such defects is important to understand deformation accumulation and the resulting mechanical properties of such materials. However, traditional techniques are limited. For example, the spatial resolution of EBSD is insufficient to study materials processed via SPD, while high dislocation densities make interpretations difficult using conventional diffraction contrast techniques in the TEM. A new technique, precession electron diffraction (PED) has gained recognition in the TEM community to solve the local crystallography, including both phase and orientation, of nanocrystalline structures under quasi-kinematical conditions. With the assistant of precession electron diffraction coupled ASTARÔ, the structure evolution of equal channel angular pressing processed commercial pure titanium is studied; this technique is also extended to two-phase titanium alloy (Ti-5553) to investigate the existence of …

The high temperature BCC phase (b) of titanium undergoes a martensitic transformation to HCP phase (a) upon cooling, but can be stabilized at room temperature by alloying with BCC transition metals such as Mo. There exists a metastable composition range within which the alloyed b phase separates into a + b upon equilibrium cooling but not when rapidly quenched. Compositional partitioning of the stabilizing element in as-quenched b microstructure creates nanoscale precipitates of a new simple hexagonal w phase, which considerably reduces ductility. These phase transformation reactions have been extensively studied experimentally, yet several significant questions remain: (i) The mechanism by which the alloying element stabilizes the b phase, thwarts its transformation to w, and how these processes vary as a function of the concentration of the stabilizing element is unclear. (ii) What is the atomistic mechanism responsible for the non-Arrhenius, anomalous diffusion widely observed in experiments, and how does it extend to low temperatures? How does the concentration of the stabilizing elements alter this behavior? There are many other w forming alloys that such exhibit anomalous diffusion behavior. (iii) A lack of clarity remains on whether w can transform to a -phase in the crystal bulk or if it …

Conversion material electrodes such as FeF2 possess the potential to deliver transformative improvements in lithium ion battery performance because they permit a reversible change of more than one Li-ion per 3d metal cation. They outperform current state of the art intercalation cathodes such as LiCoO2, which have volumetric and gravimetric energy densities that are intrinsically limited by single electron transfer. Current studies focus on composite electrodes that are formed by mixing with carbon (FeF2-C), wherein the carbon is expected to act as a binder to support the matrix and facilitate electronic conduction. These binders complicate the understanding of the electrode-electrolyte interface (SEI) passivation layer growth, of Li agglomeration, of ion and electron transport, and of the basic phase transformation processes under electrochemical cycling. This research uses thin-films as a model platform for obtaining basic understanding to the structural and chemical foundations of the phase conversion processes. Thin film cathodes are free of the binders used in nanocomposite structures and may potentially provide direct basic insight to the evolution of the SEI passivation layer, electron and ion transport, and the electrochemical behavior of true complex phases. The present work consisted of three main tasks (1) Development of optimized processes to deposit …

In this research, a temperature dependent tribological investigation of selected ternary oxides was undertaken. Based on the promising results of previous studies on silver based ternary oxides, copper based ternary oxides were selected to conduct a comparative study since both copper and silver are located in the same group in the periodic table of the elements. Two methods were used to create ternary oxides: (i) solid chemical synthesis to create powders and (ii) sputtering to produce thin films. X-ray diffraction was used to explore the evolution of phases, chemical properties, and structural properties of the coatings before and after tribotesting. Scanning electron microscopy, Auger scanning nanoprobe spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to investigate the chemical and morphological properties of these materials after sliding tests. These techniques revealed that chameleon coatings of copper ternary oxides produce a friction coefficient of 0.23 when wear tested at 430 °C. The low friction is due to the formation of copper tantalate phase and copper in the coatings. All sputtering coatings showed similar tribological properties up to 430 °C.

The goal is to perform heat measurements examine of selected roofing material samples. Those roofing materials are asphalt shingles, ceramics, and cedar. It’s important to understand the concept of heat transfer, which consists of conduction, convection, and radiation. Research work was reviewed on different infrared devices to see which one would be suitable for conducting my experiment. In this experiment, the main focus was on a specific property of radiation. That property is the emissivity, which is the amount of heat a material is able to radiate compared to a blackbody. An infrared measuring device, such as the infrared camera was used to determine the emissivity of each sample by using a measurement formula consisting of certain equations. These equations account for the emissivity, transmittance of heat through the atmosphere and temperatures of the samples, atmosphere and background. The experiment verifies how reasonable the data is compared to values in the emissivity table. A blackbody method such as electrical black tape was applied to help generate the correct data. With this data obtained, the emissivity was examined to understand what factors and parameters affect this property of the materials. This experiment was conducted using a suitable heat source to heat …

Metal pipes are sometimes swaged by a metal cone to enlarge them, which increases the strain in the material. The amount of strain is important because it affects the burst and collapse strength. Burst strength is the amount of internal pressure that a pipe can withstand before failure, while collapse strength is the amount of external pressure that a pipe can withstand before failure. If the burst or collapse strengths are exceeded, the pipe may fracture, causing critical failure. Such an event could cost the owners and their customers millions of dollars in clean up, repair, and lost time, in addition to the potential environmental damage. Therefore, a reliable way of estimating the burst and collapse strength of strained pipe is desired and valuable. The sponsor currently rates strained pipes using the properties of raw steel, because those properties are easily measured (for example, yield strength). In the past, the engineers assumed that the metal would be work-hardened when swaged, so that yield strength would increase. However, swaging introduces anisotropic strain, which may decrease the yield strength. This study measured the yield strength of strained material in the transverse and axial direction and compared them to raw material, to determine …

In this study an initial assessment of the composition – microstructure – property relationships in binary and ternary Ti – based systems are made possible using LENSTM technology. Laser Engineering Net Shaping (LENSTM), a rapid prototyping, directed laser deposition methodology of additive manufacturing (AM) was used to create bulk homogenous specimens that are compositionally graded. Compositionally graded specimens were made possible by incorporating elemental blends of powder during the LENSTM process. While there have been numerous studies assessing the influence of common elements (e.g., V, Mo, Al, and Cr) on the resulting microstructure in titanium alloys, other elements have been neglected. A systematic study of the Ti – Fe – Al ternary system based upon varying compositions of the eutectoid former, Fe with Al to stabilize the a and b phases respectively has also been neglected. This research effort focuses on exploiting the LENSTM process by rapidly assessing the composition – microstructure – property relationships in a combinatorial approach for the Ti – W, Ti – Fe, and Ti – Fe – Al systems. Compositionally graded specimens of Ti – xW (0<x<40wt.%(14.79at.%)), Ti – xFe (0<x<35wt.%(36.37at.%)), and Ti – xFe – yAl (0<x<40wt.%(36.37at.%)), y=5,10, 15wt.%) have been heat treated to …

Metal oxide nanolaminate films are potential high temperature solid lubricants due to their ability to exhibit significant plasticity when grain size is reduced to the nanometer scale, and defective growth structure is achieved by condensation of oxygen vacancies to form intrinsic stacking faults. This is in contrast to conventional microcrystalline and single crystal oxides that exhibit brittle fracture during loading in a sliding contact. This study emphasizes the additional effect of growth orientation, in particular crystallographic texture, on determining the sliding friction behavior in nanocolumnar grain zinc oxide films grown by atomic layer deposition. It was determined that zinc oxide low (0002) versus higher (101 ̅3) surface energy crystallographic planes influenced the sliding friction coefficient. Texturing of the (0002) grains resulted in a decreased adhesive component of friction thereby lowering the sliding friction coefficient to ~0.25, while the friction coefficient doubled to ~0.5 with increasing contribution of surface (101 ̅3) grains. In addition, the variation of the x-ray grazing incident angle from 0.5° to 5° was studied to better understand the surface grain orientation as a function of ZnO layer thickness in one versus four bilayer nanolaminates where the under layer (seed layer) was load-bearing Zn(Ti,Zr)O3.

The principal objective of this work was to elucidate the effect of microstructural features on the intrinsic dislocation mechanisms in two FCC alloys. First alloy Al0.1CoCrFeNi was from a new class of material known as complex concentrated alloys, particularly high entropy alloys (HEA). The second was a conventional Al-Mg-Sc alloy in ultrafine-grained (UFG) condition. In the case of HEA, the lattice possess significant lattice strain due to the atomic size variation and cohesive energy differences. Moreover, both the lattice friction stress and the Peierls barrier height are significantly larger than the conventional FCC metals and alloys. The experimental evidences, so far, provide a distinctive identity to the nature and motion of dislocations in FCC HEA as compared to the conventional FCC metals and alloys. Hence, the thermally activated dislocation mechanisms and kinetics in HEA has been studied in detail. To achieve the aim of examining the dislocation kinetics, transient tests, both strain rate jump tests and stress relaxation tests, were conducted. Anomalous behavior in dislocation kinetics was observed. Surprisingly, a large rate sensitivity of the flow stress and low activation volume of dislocations were observed, which are unparalleled as compared to conventional CG FCC metals and alloys. The observed trend …

In recent years, additive manufacturing (AM) has become an increasingly promising method used for the production of structural metallic components. There are a number of reasons why AM methods are attractive, including the ability to produce complex geometries into a near-net shape and the rapid transition from design to production. Ti-6Al-4V is a titanium alloy frequently used in the aerospace industry which is receiving considerable attention as a good candidate for processing via electron beam additive manufacturing (EBAM). The Sciaky EBAM method combines a high-powered electron beam, weld-wire feedstock, and a large build chamber, enabling the production of large structural components. In order to gain wide acceptance of EBAM of Ti-6Al-4V as a viable manufacturing method, it is important to understand broadly the microstructural features that are present in large-scale depositions, including specifically: the morphology, distribution and texture of the phases present. To achieve such an understanding, stereological methods were used to populate a database quantifying key microstructural features in Ti-6Al-4V including volume fraction of phases, a lath width, colony scale factor, and volume fraction of basket weave type microstructure. Microstructural features unique to AM, such as elongated grains and banded structures, were also characterized. Hardness and tensile testing were …

Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) have received significant research interest due to their completely amorphous structure which results in unique structural and functional properties. Absence of grain boundaries and secondary phases in BMGs results in high corrosion resistance in many different environments. Understanding and tailoring the corrosion behavior can be significant for various structural applications in bulk form as well as coatings. In this study, the corrosion behavior of several Zr-based and Fe-Co based BMGs was evaluated to understand the effect of chemistry as well as quenched in free volume on corrosion behavior and mechanisms. Presence of Nb in Zr-based alloys was found to significantly improve corrosion resistance due to the formation of a stable passive oxide. Relaxed glasses showed lower rates compared to the as-cast alloys. This was attributed to lowering of chemical potential from the reduced fraction of free volume. Potentiodynamic polarization and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) techniques helped in quantifying the corrosion rate and polarization resistance. The effect of alloy composition was quantified by extensive surface analysis using Raman spectroscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy and auger spectroscopy. Pitting intensity was higher in the as-cast glasses than the relaxed glasses. The electrochemical behavior of a Zr-Ti-Cu-Ni-Be bulk metallic glass …