Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T18:05:41.119Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Using Fluctuation Microscopy to Characterize Structural Order in Metallic Glasses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2003

Jing Li ,
X. Gu  and
T.C. Hufnagel
Jing Li
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218-2681, USA
X. Gu
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218-2681, USA
T.C. Hufnagel
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218-2681, USA
Get access

Abstract

We have used fluctuation microscopy to reveal the presence of structural order on length scales of 1–2 nm in metallic glasses. We compare results of fluctuation microscopy measurements with high resolution transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction observations on a series of metallic glass samples with differing degrees of structural order. The agreement between the fluctuation microscopy results and those of the other techniques is good. In particular, we show that the technique used to make thin specimens for electron microscopy affects the structure of the metallic glass, with ion thinning inducing more structural order than electropolishing. We also show that relatively minor changes in the composition of the alloy can have a significant effect on the medium-range order; this increased order is correlated with changes in mechanical behavior.

Keywords

metallic glassfluctuation microscopymedium-range order
Type
Materials Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 9 , Issue 6 , December 2003 , pp. 509 - 515
Copyright
© 2003 Microscopy Society of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Barber, D.J. (1993). Radiation damage in ion-milled specimens: Characteristics, effects and methods of damage limitation. Ultramicroscopy 52, 101–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, J.M., Treacy, M.M.J., & Voyles, P.M. (2000). Atom pair persistence in disordered materials from fluctuation microscopy. Ultramicroscopy 83, 169–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treacy, M.M.J. & Gibson, J.M. (1993). Coherence and multiple scattering in “Z-contrast” images. Ultramicroscopy 52, 31–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treacy, M.M.J. & Gibson, J.M. (1995). Atomic contrast transfer in annular dark field images. Journal of Microscopy 180, 2–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treacy, M.M.J. & Gibson, J.M. (1996). Variable coherence microscopy: A rich source of structural information from disordered materials. Acta Cryst A 52, 212–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treacy, M.M.J., Gibson, J.M., & Keblinski, P.J. (1998). Paracrystallites found in evaporated amorphous tetrahedral semiconductors. J Non-Cryst Sol 231, 99–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Voyles, P.M., Gibson, J.M., & Treacy, M.M.J. (2000). Fluctuation microscopy: A probe of atomic correlations in disordered materials. J Electron Microscopy 49, 259–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Z.L. (1995). Elastic and Inelastic Scattering in Electron Diffraction and Imaging. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRef
Wang, Z.L. (1999). Phonon scattering: How does it affect the image contrast in high-resolution transmission electron microscopy? Philos Mag B 79, 37–48.Google Scholar
Xing, L.-Q., Hufnagel, T.C., Eckert, J., Löser, W., & Schultz, L. (2000). Relation between short-range order and crystallization behavior in Zr-based amorphous alloys. Appl Phys Lett 77, 1970–1972.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xing, L.-Q., Li, Y., Ramesh, K.T., Li, J., & Hufnagel, T.C. (2001). Enhanced plastic strain in Zr-based bulk amorphous alloys. Phys Rev B 64, 180201(R).CrossRefGoogle Scholar