Nanocrystalline Ti-Al and Ni are investigated on an atomic scale by perturb
ed angular correlation spectroscopy in combination with X-ray diffraction.
Ti-Al compounds produced by mechanical alloying consist of disordered solid
solutions. Annealing of the samples effects a transformation into ordered
intermetallic compounds, which is observed via the occurrence of characteri
stic electric field gradients. The local magnetic properties of nanocrystal
line Ni, produced by pulsed electrodeposition, are investigated. Besides th
e local magnetic field known from polycrystalline Ni, a second component is
detected, which is attributed to a magnetic perturbation due to grain boun
daries. The width of this magnetic boundary is estimated to 3-4 nm.