Overview of Properties and Applications of Metallic Glasses

In this chapter we briefly survey some important properties and applications, respectively, of bulk metallic glasses. This chapter is not complete nor exhausting as it is still part of the introductory material. We will see in Sects. 3.1.1 and 3.2.1 that bulk metallic glasses based on Fe and Co are exceptionally soft magnetic with coercivity values close to zero, which is the most technologically interesting property. We will also see, in Chap. 3.1.2, that many BMGs can exhibit excellent mechanical properties such as, high tensile yield strength in the GPa range, high elasticity and moderately low Young’s modulus. Chapter 3.1.3 highlights own contributions in the field of high temperature oxidation and corrosion resistance of BMG. In the end of this chapter we will sketch a few of the endless possibilities for the applications of BMGs.