Electron-microscope study of the formation and further crystallization of noncrystalline nickel

A high-resolution transmission-electron-microscopy study of the relaxation and crystallization of a ${\mathrm{Ni}}_{80}{\mathrm{B}}_{20}$ amorphous alloy has been performed. An intermediate state, corresponding to the crystallization of ${\mathrm{Ni}}_3\mathrm{B}$ and to the formation of amorphous nickel, is discussed. This noncrystalline nickel is shown to consist of regions with only short-range order, together with regions of nascent crystallinity with a high density of defects, which resemble grain-boundary structures.