Surface diffusion on a palladium-based metallic glass

The surface diffusion kinetics on a Pd77.5Cu6Si16.5 metallic glass is measured using a scratch smoothing method in the range of 107–57 K below the glass transition temperature. Within this temperature range, the surface diffusion coefficients are determined to vary between (8.66 ± 0.80) × 10−19 and (5.90 ± 0.60) × 10−18 m2 s−1. The corresponding activation energy is 0.93 ± 0.18 eV, which is about half the value for bulk diffusion. These measurements also corroborate the correlation between enhanced surface diffusion and liquid fragility in glasses.