NEUTRON-DIFFRACTION STUDY OF BULK AMORPHOUS ZN41SB59

The amorphous Zn41Sb59 alloy was studied by means of neutron diffracti on. The sample was prepared by solid-state transformation of the quenc hed high-pressure phase during heating at atmospheric pressure. The da ta obtained were treated using the reverse Monte Carlo method. Accordi ng to the radial distribution function obtained, the short-range order of the amorphous alloy was similar to that found for the equilibrium phase of the crystalline compound ZnSb at normal pressure. The effecti ve coordination numbers for the amorphous alloy and the crystalline Zn Sb were found to be 4.7 and 5, respectively.