Structural study of amorphous Fe70M10B20 (M = Cr, W, Nb, Zr and Hf) alloysby X-ray diffraction

Local atomic structures in amorphous Fe70M10B20 (M = Cr, W, Nb, Zr and Ho a lloys with different DeltaT(x) values Acre studied by the ordinary X-ray di ffraction, anomalous X-ray scattering and EXAFS methods. Their local the at omic structures basically resemble each other, i.e. a random network struct ure of triangular prisms. Only difference in local atomic structure is a sh ape of the local structural unit. In the amorphous alloys containing M elem ents larger than Fe atoms, the prisms Show distorted shapes due to a size d ifference Deltar between M and Fe. A linear relation between Deltar and Del taT(x), and a comparison of their crystallization processes suggest us that their thermal stability is attributed to difficulty in rearranging the irr egular structural units because of a non-zero Deltar value.