Effect of disorder on the electrical resistivity in the partially crystalline Zr76Ni24 metallic glasses

The electrical resistivity has been measured for annealed amorphous and partially crystalline Zr76Ni24 metallic glasses in the temperature range from 2 to 290 K. The effect of disorder on the electrical resistivity in the amorphous and partially crystalline Zr76Ni24 metallic glasses has been studied. Quenching rate and thermal annealing have been used to modify the disorder of the samples. The electrical resistivity of the annealed partially crystalline samples up to an annealing temperature slightly below the first crystallization exotherm increases with decreasing heating rates, whereas the annealed amorphous samples show an opposite effect. After annealing the samples slightly above the first crystallization exotherm the electrical resistivity of the annealed samples decreases drastically. The temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity of the samples has been interpreted in terms of the weak localisation of electrons and contribution by electron-phonon scattering. The contribution by electron-phonon scattering increases with increasing the fraction of crystalline phases in the annealed samples. The amorphous and partially crystalline Zr76Ni24 metallic glasses become superconducting at temperatures below 3.5 K. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.