Anomalous Curie-point relaxation in a Cr-containing amorphous alloy

Anomalous (negative) irreversible and reversible Curie-point relaxation was observed in amorphous Fe76Cr8B15Cu1 alloy. This observation is in line with the results previously found in a FeNiCrSiB alloy series where the Cr-concentration dependence of the normal (positive) reversible Curie-point relaxation could only be explained by assuming two contributions of different signs to the relaxation. The normal contribution is related to the ordering of Fe and Ni atoms while the anomalous one is associated with the Cr atoms. The role of Cr on the resistivity relaxation is also presented. Existing literature results on anomalous structural relaxation of metallic glasses are critically discussed.