Pd–Ni–P metallic glass film fabricated by electroless alloy plating

In the present study a Pd–Ni–P film has been fabricated by electroless alloy plating. The fabricated Pd–Ni–P film was found to be a metallic glass on the basis of two features, namely, an amorphous structure and a glass transition followed by crystallization during heating. The thermal stability of the supercooled liquid region, however, was lower than that of bulk Pd–Ni–P metallic glass. And unlike the conventional metallic glasses, the fabricated Pd–Ni–P film did not have a uniform microstructure. The non-uniform microstructure of this film resulted from the inhomogeneous distribution of the free volume accompanying the electroless alloy plating reaction.