Effect of irradiation particle mass on crystallization of amorphous alloys

The crystallization temperature of amorphous alloys was found to be significantly lowered by heavy ion or electron irradiation during annealing. However, only heavy ion irradiation altered the mode of crystallization. Both a binary and multi-element amorphous alloy showed this type of response to irradiation. Radiation-enhanced diffusion processes in the amorphous state can explain the increased crystallization kinetics during irradiation. Heavy ion irradiation alters the crystallization mode by causing direct transformation to the final equilibrium phase as opposed to intermediate metastable phase formation during thermal annealing or electron irradiation. The equilibrium phase is believed to nucleate directly in the displacement cascades, which only form during heavy ion bombardment.