Structure and properties of some glass-forming liquid alloys

Some physical properties (kinematic viscosity, surface tension and magnetic susceptibility) of some Fe-based metallic melts of easily glass-forming alloys have been measured during heating and subsequent cooling. The results indicate that molten liquid metallic alloys undergo a number of structural transformations ranging from the initial microheterogeneous state formed after melting up to the true solution state. Studies by small angle neutron scattering on a eutectic SnPb melt confirm this conclusion in that two families of different sizes have been seen, one in the range 1 to 2 nm and one of size larger than 100 nm. Both kind of particles have relatively sharp interfaces and the size of the smaller particles is found to depend on temperature. Received 25 February 1999 and Received in final form 28 October 1999