THE SPECIFIC VOLUMES OF PD40NI40P20 IN THE LIQUID, GLASS, AND CRYSTALLIZED STATES

The specific volumes of Pd40Ni40P20 were measured in the liquid, glass , and crystallized states. It was found that in the molten state, for temperatures below approximately 1000 K, the specific volume measureme nt was successful only if the specimens were properly purified. Such p urification could be achieved by fluxing the molten specimen in dehydr ated boron oxide. Relaxation effects are observed and they manifested themselves in the variation of the thermal expansion coefficient with the quenching rates of the glassy specimens. The intersection points o f the specific volume curves of the liquid (both stable and metastable ), glass and crystallized are 573 +/- 80 and 492 +/- 80 K (extrapolate d values), respectively. The former agrees very well with the glass tr ansition temperature 577 K, obtained by the calorimetry method, while the latter implies that the melt, in accord with free volume theory, w ill have collapsed to the glass before that temperature is reached.