Study of structural relaxation of Ni78Si8B14 metallic glass by electrical resistivity and thermal expansion measurements

Electrical resistivity and thermal expansion measurements were made to elucidate the structural relaxation of Ni₇₈Si₈B₁₄ metallic glass, especially, the topological short range ordering. The decrease of the resistivity and the increase of its temperature coefficient were observed, and these changes due to the structural relaxation were discussed on the basis of the extended Ziman theory for metallic glasses proposed by Nagel. The densification of about 0.25% and the decrease of 4% in the thermal expansion coefficient were observed in the considerably relaxed sample. The topological short range ordering in Ni₇₈Si₈B₁₄ metallic glass occurs rapidly at the annealing temperature above 200°C.