FORMATION OF AMORPHOUS MATERIALS

摘要

FORMATION OF AMORPHOUS MATERIALS Metastable amorphous or fine crystalline materials are formed by solid state reactions by diffusion of a metallic component into a solid compound or by diffusion of a gas into an intermetallic compound. The invention can be practiced on layers of metals deposited on an amorphous substrate or by intermixing powders with nucleating seed granules. All that is required is that the diffusion of the first component into the second component be much faster than the self-diffusion of the first component. The method is practiced at a temperature below the temperature at which the amorphous phase transforms into one or more crystalline phases and near or below the temperature at which the ratio of the rate of diffusion of the first component to the rate of self-diffusion is at least 104. This anomalous diffusion criteria is found in many binary, tertiary and higher ordered systems of alloys and appears to be found in all alloy systems that form amorphous materials by rapid quenching. The method of the invention can totally convert much larger dimensional materials to amorphous materials in practical periods of several hours or less. .