Crystallization of Fe75Zr25 metallic glass: a two‐step process involving metastable bcc‐Fe and polymorphic transformation

The crystallization process of mechanically alloyed Fe75Zr25 metallic glasses is investigated by means of both thermo‐magnetization and in situ neutron powder thermo‐diffraction experiments in the temperature range 300–1073 K. It was found that the crystallization takes place in a two‐step process, involving firstly the appearance of metastable Fe and Fe2Zr crystalline phases between 880 K and 980 K, and a subsequent polymorphic transformation into Fe3Zr above 980 K. These findings explain the anomalous magnetization vs. temperature behaviour on heating–cooling cycles. magnified image Contour plot of the neutron diffracted intensity (λ = 1.28 Å) as a function of the Bragg diffraction angle and the temperature. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)