DEVITRIFICATION OF THE NI80B20 METALLIC-GLASS

It has been proposed that devitrification of Ni80B20 metallic glass in to Ni3B and crystalline Ni occurs in two separate stages whereby amorp hous Ni is formed as an intermediate step. Present measurements of ele ctric and magnetic parameters actually show that the above reaction oc curs in a single step where Ni3B and a crystalline Ni-B alloy are form ed directly from the original Ni80B20 amorphous phase. Since a large n umber of defects are present in these crystalline products (especially in the Ni-B alloy), they tend to evolve into more stable phases. Such an evolution may be the cause for previous interpretations that the s tudied reaction occurs in two steps. [S0163-1829(98)01941-9].