Effect of plastic flow on the kinetics of amorphous phase growth by solid state reaction in the Ni-Zr system

We propose a method of deforming a bulk diffusion couple which allows separate control of the effects on the kinetics of glass formation due to plastic flow and temperature increase. It is found that plastic flow enhances, by several orders of magnitude, the interdiffusion coefficient (whose temperature dependence is described by a dual-regime Arrhenius behavior) and that increasing the rate at which the load is applied results in a considerable enhancement of the process of diffusion. All these observations are tentatively ascribed to the creation of excess free volume by plastic flow.