Thermal evolution of the local order in amorphous Hf62Ni38.

Abstract

This paper reports on time-differential perturbed angular correlation measurements on amorphous ${\mathrm{Hf}}_{62}$${\mathrm{Ni}}_{38}$ alloys prepared by melt spinning. The main objective was to analyze the evolution of short-range order around Hf atoms during crystallization, i.e., the identification of stable or metastable phases formed by thermal activation. The results indicate that the crystallization is a two-step process as it was previously observed by other techniques. After the first one a disordered phase precipitates in a still amorphous matrix. The further crystallization process is not a simple one, involving the growing and dissolution of different phases before the final equilibrium compounds are reached.