The effect of uniaxial tension on the relief geometry of the surface of an Fe77Ni1Si9B13 amorphous alloy

The effect of uniaxial tension in a wide range of applied stress (0-3 GPa) on the surface topography of an Fe77Ni1Si9B13 amorphous alloy was studied by scanning tunneling microscopy. It was found that the distributions of the surface defects with respect to lateral and vertical dimensions exhibit a change manifested by an increase in the proportion of large-scale defects and in the fractal dimension of the surface with increasing load. It is suggested that this surface relief is formed by a diffusion mechanism and that the observed effects are involved in the fracture focus nucleation on the sample surface. (C) 2002 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".