The classical formation of metallic glasses by rapid quenching requires the suppression of the nucleation and growth of crystalline phases during cooling from the liquid alloy melt. More recently a variety of techniques have been described in the literature wherein amorphous metal alloys have been prepared by diffusion reactions under solid state conditions. These include hydrogen glass forming reactions, multilayer diffusion couples, and mechanical alloying.

Wet chemical and thermal synthetic methods are described which allow the preparation of a wide variety of multi-component amorphous metal alloy precursors. Subsequent heat-treatment of these precursor materials serves to transform them into a substantially amorphous metal alloy powder. In the parent process, at least one metal-bearing compound is disposed in a liquid medium then reduced so as to obtain an intimate molecular mixture of the elements of the amorphous metal alloy to be synthesized. Specific examples of typical reduction procedures and variations are included. The modification of the chemical reaction schemes with respect to the parent process will be addressed in terms of the variability of intermediate precursor mixtures that can be isolated. In all cases, the critical step for the production of the amorphous metal alloy is the synthesis of a homogeneous, intimate mixture in the precursor powder. The solid-state reaction which occurs to alloy this intimate mixture is discussed in terms of the relative free energy difference between the intimate mixture and the resultant amorphous alloy.