Non-uniform distribution of small-scale inhomogeneities in melt-spun Fe80B20 ribbons

Amorphous melt-spun Fe80B20 ribbons have been investigated by small-angle X-ray scattering to extract additional information on small-scale inhomogeneities observed in transition metal-metalloid glasses by several authors. Our experiments have shown that the scattering heterogeneities of electron density, the dimensions of which amount to about 1 nm, exist only in regions adjacent to the edges of the ribbons studied. This emergence suggests that the scattering items cannot be identified with intrinsic features of the amorphous state of the Fe80B20 alloy. There are several reasons to assume that the scattering heterogeneities are attributable to devitrification processes running down in the regions adjacent to the edges of the ribbons where possibly the quenching velocity is reduced