The addition of small amounts (microalloying) of Ti was previously shown to improve glass formation and stability in rapidly quenched Al-Y-Fe alloys. Here, microalloying with V is demonstrated to have an even more dramatic effect on glass stability. Al85.35Y8Fe6V0.65 exhibits a crystallization-onset temperature (T-x) of 365 degrees C and a supercooled liquid region (Delta T-x) of 80 degrees C, the largest currently known for Al-rich metallic glasses. The rapidly quenched oxygenated alloys Al85Y8Fe6V0.65O0.35 and Al84.35Y8Fe6V0.65O1 are also glasses, establishing that the glasses with V have a higher tolerance to oxygen contamination than the alloys prepared with Ti. The partial devitrification of Al85.35Y8Fe6V0.65 produces an unusual, non-uniform microstructure that suggests an autocatalytic nucleation mechanism.

Observations of the brightness of the outer solar corona from the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) coronagraph during solar cycle 22 (1980, then 1984-1989) are compared with the occurrence rate and the mass of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) observed during this period. We find that the brightness and, hence, mass of the outer corona increased by more than a factor of 4 from solar minimum (1986) to late 1989, when the SMM ceased operation. The peak brightness (mass) in 1989 was roughly equivalent to that observed in the latter part of 1980. Accompanying a sharp increase in brightness (mass) of the corona in early 1989 was a concomitant increase in both the occurrence rate and the average mass of CMEs.