Evidence of eutectic crystallization and transient nucleation in Al89La6Ni5 amorphous alloy

The phase evolution with the temperature and time in the process of crystallization of Al89La6Ni5 amorphous alloy has been investigated by in situ high-temperature and high-pressure x-ray powder diffraction using synchrotron radiation. Two crystalline phases, fcc-Al and a metastable bcc-(AlNi)(11)La-3-like phase, were identified after the first crystallization reaction, revealing a eutectic reaction instead of a primary reaction suggested in the literature. Time-dependent nucleation in the amorphous alloy is detected and the experimental data can be fitted by both the Zeldovich's and Kashchiev's transient nucleation models with transient nucleation times of 220 and 120 min, respectively. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.