Partial correlations in Ni60Nb40 metallic glass

Combined X-ray and neutron diffraction experiments were performed on the Ni₆₀Nb₄₀ metallic glass samples prepared by rapid quenching from the melt with natural Ni^nat and isotope ⁵⁸Ni, respectively. The partial structure factors were separated for the three kinds of atomic pairs: NiNi, NiNb and NbNb. The partial distribution functions were calculated by means of Fourier transformation and the following atomic distances were obtained: $\text{r}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>NiNi</mtext>}}\text{=2.52}\text{A}\text{?}\text{, r}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>NiNb</mtext>}}\text{=2.72}\text{A}\text{?}$ and $\text{r}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>NbNb</mtext>}}\text{=2.70}\text{A}\text{?}$. The values n_NiNi=7.3, n_NiNb=4.5, n_NbNi=6.8 and n_NbNb=5.4 were obtained for the number of nearest neighbours.