Amorphous phase separation in the metallic glasses (Pb1-ySby)1-xAu

Abstract

A novel family of ternary superconducting metallic glasses of the form (Pb1-ySby)1-xAux have been prepared by the method of melt quenching and studied by x-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. For y=0.5 and 0.25, and 0.35<x<0.7, measurements of superconducting properties suggest that these glasses are phase separated into two amorphous phases. X-ray-diffraction studies also suggest a phase separation. The two amorphous phases have been directly observed using electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction. The scale of the domain structure is 1000-2000 Å. All of the superconducting properties measured can be understood in terms of the observed separation of amorphous phases.