IN VACUO X-RAY-DIFFRACTION STUDY OF ATOMIC SHORT-RANGE ORDER IN INERT-GAS-CONDENSED FE

Nanocrystalline Fe (n-Fe) was produced by inert-gas condensation follo wed by in-situ compaction of the powder. Since n-Fe is susceptible to oxidation, exposure to atmosphere was avoided by performing the transf er to the x-ray diffractometer as well as the x-ray measurements in a continually pumped vacuum sample holder. Evaluations of the atomic den sity distribution (ADD) functions, determined from experimental interf erence functions, suggest that the atomic structure of the grain bound aries (GB) in n-Fe is more ordered than has been reported in earlier i nvestigations.