Determination of the Partial Structure Factors of the Metallic Glass Fe₈₀B₂₀

Abstract

By X-ray diffraction and neutron diffraction using the isotopic substitution method, the partial structure factors /S FeFe , S FeB , and S BB well as S NN , S CC , and S NC were determined for the metallic glass Fe 80 B 20 . The Fourier-transforms yielded the pair correlation functions G ij from which the atomic distances and the partial coordination numbers were calculated. The partial coordination numbers are in good agreement with those of the metastable Fe 3 B-phase, which is the first crystallization product formed during annealing of the metallic glass Fe 80 B 20 . The chemical short range order parameter amounts to 100%, thus indicating perfect chemical order.