Structural Disordering and Relaxation Process in an Amorphous Alloy

Structural change in an amorphous alloy was measured by applying a load below the global yield stregth at ambient temperatures. It was observed that the magnitude of the apparent structural change occuring in the amorphous alloy is determined by the compatative relationship between the stress-induced disordering process and the thermally-activated relaxation process. Structural disorder was observed to take place even at a stress well below the global yield, and the degree of the disorder was increased abruptly at the earlier stage of loading and saturated with time. In the mean time, unlike the previous belief, the relaxation process was observed to occur even at embient temperatures, and the degree of the relaxation was observed to increase linearly with time. The analytical equation predicting the structural change was proposed.