Local atomic structures in Zr–Ni metallic glasses

Local atomic structures of Zr100−xNixZr100−xNix (x=33.3x=33.3, 36, 50 at%) binary metallic glasses were investigated by means of extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) probe. Structural parameters show that the Zr–Ni bond length, RZr–NiRZr–Ni, keeps a constant value of 2.62 Å, regardless of alloy compositions. This result implies that there is a strongly chemical interaction between Zr and Ni atoms, leading to significant chemical short-range orders (CSROs) in the present metallic glasses. Further analysis indicates that the SRO structures in these metallic glasses are extremely similar with those in their crystalline counterparts. It is interesting to note that the CSROs in the eutectic Zr64Ni36 metallic glass consist of Zr2Ni-like and ZrNi-like CSROs.