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Nucleation of fractal nanocrystallites upon annealing of Fe-based metallic glass
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 March 2017
Abstract
Bragg coherent X-ray diffraction imaging has been used to determine the structure of the initial clusters of α-Fe nano crystals which form upon annealing of an iron-based amorphous alloy or metallic glass. The method is able to identify the shapes and strain of these crystallites without any need for cutting the sample, so can visualize them in three dimensions in their intact state. In this way, the delicate dendritic structures on the exterior of the crystallites can be seen and its density versus radius relationship identifies a fractal dimension of the porous region that is consistent with diffusion-limited aggregation models. The crystal sizes were found to be around 60 nm after annealing at 700 °C growing to about 330 nm after annealing at 750 °C. This article introduces the BCDI method and describes its application to characterize previously recrystallized samples of iron-based amorphous alloys. It paves the way for a possible future in situ nucleation/growth investigation of the relationship between kinetics and nanostructure of metallic glass.
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- Invited Reviews
- Information
- Journal of Materials Research , Volume 32 , Issue 10: Focus Issue: Microstructural Characterization for Emerging Photovoltaic Materials , 26 May 2017 , pp. 1880 - 1887
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- Copyright © Materials Research Society 2017
Footnotes
Contributing Editor: Chris Nicklin
This section of Journal of Materials Research is reserved for papers that are reviews of literature in a given area.
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