Influence of short-range order on devitrification in Zr70Pd20Cu10 metallic glasses

The initial stages of the devitrification for the Zr70Pd20Cu10 metallic glass prepared by two processing routes, melt-spinning (MS) and mechanical milling (MM), is investigated using high energy synchrotron X-rays (124.63 keV). The short-range order of the as-prepared alloys differ. This resulted in different phase selection processes during annealing for the two alloys. To determine the initial nucleating phases, we analyzed the differences in the total scattering function S(Q) as a function of time at a temperature ∼50 K below the crystallization temperature. Both alloys undergo a structural relaxation prior to nucleation and growth. Devitrification proceeds from nucleation of the icosahedral phase for the MS alloy and by nucleation of the high temperature stable MoSi2-type structure for the MM alloy.