| In this thesis, the application of the computational thermodynamics has been explored on two subjects, the study of magnesium alloys (Chapter 1-5) and bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) (Chapter 6-9).;For the former case, a strategy of experiments coupled with the CALPHAD approach was employed to establish a thermodynamic description of the quaternary system Mg-Al-Ca-Sr focusing on the Mg-rich phase equilibria. Multicomponent Mg-rich alloys based on the MgAl-Ca-Sr system are one of the most promising candidates for the high temperature applications in the transportation industry. The Mg-Al-Ca-Sr quaternary consists of four ternaries and six binaries. Thermodynamic descriptions of all constituent binaries are available in the literature. Thermodynamic descriptions of the two key ternaries, Mg-Al-Sr and Mg-Al-Ca, were obtained by an efficient and reliable methodology, combining computational thermodynamics with key experiments. The obtained thermodynamic descriptions were validated by performing extensive comparisons between the calculations and experimental information. Thermodynamic descriptions of the other two ternaries, MgCa-Sr and Al-Ca-Sr, were obtained by extrapolation.;For the later case, a computational thermodynamic strategy was formulated to obtain a minor but optimum amount of additional element into a base alloy to improve its glass forming ability (GFA). This was done through thermodynamically calculating the maximum liquidus depressions caused by various alloying addition (or replacement) schemes. The success of this approach has been examined in two multicomponent systems, Zr-based Zr-Cu-Ni-Al-Ti and Cu-rich Cu-Zr-Ti-Y. For both cases, experimental results showed conclusively that the GFA increases more than 100% from the base alloy to the one with minor but optimal elemental addition. Furthermore, a thermodynamic computational approach was employed to identify the compositions of Zr-Ti-Ni-Cu-Al alloys exhibiting low-lying liquidus surfaces, which tend to favor the BMG formation. Guided by these calculations, several series of new Zr-based alloys with excellent GFA were synthesized. The approach using the thermodynamically calculated liquidus temperatures was proved to be robust in locating BMGs and can be considered as a universal method to predict novel BMGs not only of scientific interest but also potential technological applications. |
