In situ XRD studies of nanocrystallization of Fe-based metallic glass: a comparative study by reciprocal and direct space methods.

Structural changes occurring in an Fe(72.5)Cu1Nb2Mo2Si(15.5)B7 alloy during a combination of constant rate heating (20 K min(-1)) and isothermal holding at 500 and 520 °C were investigated using in situ high-energy X-ray diffraction. We found that the ferromagnetic-to-paramagnetic transition of the amorphous phase is revealed as a change in the slope of the thermal expansion curve when heating a sample at a constant rate up to 520 °C. Real space analysis by means of the atomic pair distribution function (PDF) demonstrated that the rate and extent of the thermal expansion strongly depend on the interatomic separation. The PDF proved to be a reliable method for the description of crystallization kinetics. Further it allows determination of sizes of ultrafine nanocrystals with grain sizes well below 8 nm and thus makes observation of early stages of nanocrystallization possible. Following grain growth kinetics during isothermal annealing at 500 and 520 °C we found that the activation energy of the process is 357 ± 12 kJ mol(-1).