Magnetic Properties of Grain Boundaries of Nanocrystalline Ni and of Ni Precipitates in Nanocrystalline NiCu Alloys

Abstract

Perturbed γγ-angular correlation spectroscopy (PAC) was used to investigate nanocrystalline Ni and NiCu alloys, which are prepared by pulsed electrodeposition (PED). Using diffusion for doping nanocrystalline Ni with 111In four different ordered grain boundary structures are observed, which are characterized by unique electric field gradients. The incorporation of 111In on substitutional bulk sites of Ni is caused by moving grain boundaries below 1000 K and by volume diffusion above 1000 K. The nanocrystalline NiCu alloys prepared by PED are microscopically inhomogeneous as observed by PAC. In contrast, this inhomogeneity cannot be detected by X-ray diffraction. The influence of the temperature of the electrolyte, the current density during deposition, and the optional addition of saccharin to the electrolyte on the homogeneity of nanocrystalline NiCu alloys was investigated.