Optical properties of the amorphous structure of strips of rapidly quenched metal alloys

Far-IR reflection spectra, Raman spectra, and small-angle X-ray scattering spectra of amorphous metal alloys Fe80TM5B15 (TM = Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Ni, Co) a re studied. It is found that far-IR spectra exhibit the nonmetal type of be havior, which is explained by the appearance of microscopic regions (cluste rs) in an amorphous matrix with characteristic linear dimensions of 25-40 A ngstrom. The size of clusters depends on the type of the alloying impurity and determines the thermal stability of the amorphous state of metal alloys . These results show that optical properties of amorphous alloys are adequa tely described by models that take into account, along with the metallic bo nd between individual pairs of atoms, a contribution from covalent bonds th at appear between them.