Structural study of amorphous Fe70M10B20 (M = Zr, Nb and Cr) alloys by X-ray diffraction

The local atomic structures in the amorphous Fe70Zr10B20, Fe70Nb10B20 and F e70Cr10B20 alloys with different DeltaT(x) were studied by the ordinary X-r ay diffraction, anomalous X-ray scattering (AXS) measurements and EXAFS ana lyses. The essential features of the atomic structures resemble in these am orphous alloys. Only the difference in the local atomic structure is a dist orted shape ;of the triangular prism due to the size difference between Fe and M. From the correspondence of the size difference with DeltaT(x) and th e study of the crystallization process by the DSC measurements and the X-ra y diffraction method, we conclude that the difference of their thermal stab ility is closely related with the difficulty of rearrangements of the prism s during crystallization. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserve d.