Patent ID: 8293036

Claim:
A method of forming spinodal microconstituents in a glass forming alloy comprising: melting alloy constituents consisting of 43.0 atomic percent to 68.0 atomic percent iron, 10.0 atomic percent to 19.0 atomic percent boron, 13.0 atomic percent to 17.0 atomic percent nickel, 2.5 atomic percent to 21.0 atomic percent cobalt, optionally one or more of the following 0.1 atomic percent to 6.0 atomic percent carbon, 0.3 atomic percent to 3.5 atomic percent silicon, 1 atomic percent to 8 atomic percent titanium, 1 atomic percent to 8 atomic percent molybdenum, 1 atomic percent to 8 atomic percent copper, 1 atomic percent to 8 atomic percent cerium, and 2 atomic percent to 16 atomic percent aluminum to form an alloy having a critical cooling rate for metallic glass formation of <100,000 K/s; and forming and cooling said alloy, at a rate of 10 2 K/s to 10 6 K/s wherein upon cooling the glass forming alloy includes between 5% to 95% by volume spinodal microconstituents comprising one or more semi-crystalline or crystalline phases at a length scale less than 50 nm in a glass matrix effectively blunting shear bands through localized deformation induced changes under tension and wherein said alloy exhibits a tensile elongation of greater than 1% and up to 7%.