Thermoelectric investigation of structural relaxation processes of the transition-metal-based amorphous alloys
Mykola Zakharenko, Olesya Nakonechna, Sergiy Revo
The relaxation processes in different amorphous alloys based on a transition metal (TM) have been investigated through thermopower measurements. The thermopower, ET, as a function of an annealing time, ta, at different annealing temperatures, Ta (Ta <= Tx, where Tx is the crystallisation temperature) was measured in a couple containing annealed and as-quenched alloys of the same composition. The dependence of the thermopower on the annealing time ta shows a two-stage behaviour and a tendency to saturate at large ta. The temperature dependence of ET for different annealing times shows curves with a maximum. The existence of that maximum is explained by different mechanisms of structural relaxation processes in different temperature ranges. The migration of two types of atomic complexes (TM atoms and TM – metalloid complexes) has been considered. There are at least two processes that define the structural relaxation at the initial stages of this process.