Relationship between thermal expansion coefficient and glass transition temperature in metallic glasses

The thermal expansion coefficients of 13 metallic glasses were measured using a thermo-mechanical analyser. A unique correlation was found between the linear thermal expansion coefficient and the glass transition temperature-their product is nearly constant similar to 8.24 x 10(-3). If one assumes the Debye expression for thermal activation, the total linear thermal expansion up to glass transition temperature (T-g) is reduced to 6 x 10(-3), nearly 25% of that at the fusion of pure metals. (C) 2008 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.