The low temperature specific heat of the metallic glasses (FexNi80−x)B20 heat of the metallic glasses

Abstract
The specific heat, CP, between 0.6 K and 60 K has been determined for the metallic glasses (FexNi80−x)B20 for x = 80, 60, 40, 30 and 20 using melt‐spun ribbon samples. The magnetic contribution (CM) is small, enabling analysis of (CP−CM) into electronic and phonon contributions, which are compared with those in related alloy series. The composition dependence of the electronic term provides further evidence for application of the split‐band model to these alloys. The phonon contribution showed marked composition dependent deviations from the Debye model at temperatures above 10 K. No large spin‐glass contribution to CM is observed for the x = 20 composition, in contrast to the previously studied alloy Fe20Ni60P14B6.