Nanocrystallization studies of an electroless plated Ni-P amorphous alloy

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measure ments were performed on an electroless plated Ni-P amorphous alloy to study the influence of different heat-treatments (linear heating and isothermal annealing). The phases formed after crystallization and the average grain s ize of the crystallization products were determined from XRD line broadenin g, and the heat evolved during the structural transformations were establis hed from DSC measurements. A detailed study of the transformation products obtained along different heating routes was performed. From these studies, a scheme of the structural transformations and their energetics was constru cted. The grain boundary energies in the different nanocrystalline states w ere also estimated. (C) 2001 The Electrochemical Society.