Core-level and valence-band electron states in Zr-based bulk metallic glass

Abstract

A Zr-based bulk metallic glass of Zr70Ni20Al10 has an excellent glass-forming ability (GFA), and can form a massive bulk glass by simple water-quenching. In order to clarify the role of electronic structure in this excellent GFA of Zr70Ni20Al10 glass by comparing to the Zr70Ni30 reference glass, having a worse GFA, valence-band photoemission spectra were measured with changing the incident photon energy using synchrotron radiation at BL7 of HiSOR. We have also measured Ni 3p, Zr 3d and Zr 4p core-level photoemission spectra of the Zr70Ni20Al10 glass, and compared them to those of the Zr70Ni30 reference glass. The shifts of the binding energies in every core-level are observed, indicating changes of the chemical nature by replacing the Ni atoms with Al atoms. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd.