Kinetics of structural relaxation in several metallic glasses observed by changes in electrical resistivity

Measurements of the kinetics of structural relaxation in transition-metal—metalloid and transition-metal—transition-metal metallic glasses as observed by changes in their electrical resistivity are presented. Both positive and negative changes in the resistivity ($\rho$) and the temperature coefficient of resistivity ($\alpha$) are reported; the sign of $\Delta \rho$ is opposite to the sign of $\Delta \alpha$. These observations provide a sensitive new test for theories of the resistivity in disordered metallic alloys. For two transition-metal—metalloid glasses, ${\mathrm{Pd}}_{82}$ ${\mathrm{Si}}_{18}$ and ${\mathrm{Pd}}_{77.5}$ ${\mathrm{Cu}}_6$ ${\mathrm{Si}}_{16.5}$, the kinetics of resistivity relaxation are compared with the kinetics of viscosity relaxation using the free-volume model for flow and the Ziman theory of resistivity.