Young's modulus and internal friction in metallic glass alloys from 1.5 to 300 K

An investigation of the acoustic properties of metallic glass alloys has been carried out in the temperature range 1.5-300 K. The Young's modulus and internal friction were measured in the frequency range 0.1-3 kHz using a vibrating-reed technique. The Young's modulus of the alloys investigated experienced large increases of from 26% to 39% after crystallization. The internal friction in the amorphous and crystalline phases of the binary alloys Pd0.81{Si}0.19$ is consistent with a thermoelastic relaxation process. Low-temperature anomalies in the damping and dispersion of multicomponent nickel and iron alloys were observed superimposed on the thermoelastic loss. The low-temperature measurements in the amorphous phase of Fe0.74{P}0.16C0.05{Al}0.03Si0.02 were characterized by a broad distribution of relaxation times. This distribution is asymmetric, corresponding to excess damping and dispersion at temperatures below the internal-friction maximum. Crystallization removes the asymmetry and the crystalline measurements fit a log-normal distribution of relaxation times with β13. A temperature-dependent relaxation strength such as that proposed by Scott and MacCrone explains the main features of the observed low-temperature asymmetry.