The mechanical behavior of a thin film that is clamped to an elastically hard substrate can be compared to a bulk metal by studying the absorption of hydrogen. Since hydrogen is dissolved in interstitial sites and exerts force on neighboring metal atoms, the in-plane stresses increase with increasing hydrogen concentration. In the case of Nb-films covered with a thin Pd layer, stresses of several GPa were measured. Nb and Pd films prepared by evaporation were loaded with hydrogen. Out-of-plane strain and in-plane stresses during electrolytic loading with hydrogen were determined by performing x-ray diffraction and substrate curvature measurements. At low H-concentrations the developing stresses correspond to a clamped film expanding elastically out-of-plane only. Above a critical H-concentration the films deform plastically. In some cases the critical hydrogen concentration corresponds to the terminal H-solubility, above which the hydride precipitates by emission of extrinsic dislocation loops. For the remaining cases a critical stress is reached before passing the phase boundary, which leads to the formation of misfit dislocations at the interface between film and substrate. The concomitant slip lines were observed on the surface of a Gd (0001) film using Scanning Tunneling Microscopy. An additional surface pattern that can be correlated with emitted dislocation loops was observed.

In situ straining experiments on Al-Pd-Mn single quasicrystals in a high-voltage electron microscope between 675 °C and 750°C showed viscously moving dislocations with segments oriented in preferred directions. First measurements from video recordings indicate that dislocations on parallel traces move at two different velocities. For the first time, macroscopic samples were deformed in compression below 680 °C. Above a transition temperature of about 635°C for specimens of a fivefold compression axis and a strain rate of 10−5 s−1, the specimens show a yield point followed by a range of steady state deformation. Below that temperature, they are brittle. However, plastic deformation was achieved down to 555°C by using a lower strain rate and performing stress relaxation tests before the fracture stress was reached. The samples then show very strong work-hardening. The rapid decrease of the activation volume with decreasing temperature, which is characteristic of the high-temperature range, does not continue at low temperatures.The results are interpreted by dislocation generation and recovery and by the cluster friction mechanism controlling the dislocation mobility.

The amorphous ternary metallic alloy Zr60Al15Ni25 was oxidized in dry oxygen in the temperature range 310 °C to 410 °C. Rutherford backscattering (RBS) and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies suggest that during this treatment an amorphous layer of zirconium-aluminum-oxide is formed at the surface. Nickel was depleted in the oxide and enriched in the amorphous alloy near the interface. The oxide layer thickness grows parabolically with annealing duration, with a transport constant of 2.8 × 10−5 m2/s × exp(−1.7 eV/kT). The oxidation rate may be controlled by the diffusion of Ni in the amorphous alloy. At later stages of the oxidation process, precipitates of nanocrystalline ZrO2 appear in the oxide near the interface. Finally, two intermetallic phases nucleate and grow simultaneously in the alloy, one at the interface and one within the alloy. An explanation involving preferential oxidation is proposed.

Be diffusivity data in the bulk metallic glass forming alloys Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 and Zr46.7Ti8.3Cu7.5Ni10Be27.5 are reported for temperatures between 530K and 710K, extending up to 80K into the supercooled liquid states of the alloys. At the glass transition temperature, Tg, a change in temperature dependence of the data is observed in both alloys, and above Tg the diffusivity increases faster with temperature than below. The data in the supercooled liquid can be described by a modified Arrhenius expression containing the communal entropy of the supercooled liquid and based on a diffusion mechanism suggested earlier. The comparison with viscosity data in the supercooled liquid state of Zr46.7Ti8.3Cu7.5Ni10Be27.5 reveals a breakdown of the Stokes- Einstein relation, whereas D(T) and η(T) follow a relation close to van den Beu-kel's. The breakdown of the Stokes- Einstein relation indicates a cooperative diffusion mechanism in the supercooled liquid state of the ZrTiCuNiBe alloys.

The growth of amorphous CuTi films, prepared by electron beam evaporation, is investigated by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM), Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) and in situ measurements of intrinsic mechanical stresses (ISM). In early growth stages the films develop compressive stresses and, with increasing film thickness, a crossover to tensile stresses. In the same thickness range the STM investigations show a change in the growth mode. Our experiments suggest a transition from planar growth with statistical surface roughening to columnar growth.

A new family of multicomponent metallic alloys exhibits an excellent glass forming ability at moderate cooling rates of about 10K/s and a wide supercooled liquid region. These glasses are eutectic or nearly eutectic, thus far away from the compositions of competing crystalline phases. The nucleation of crystals from the homogeneous amorphous phase requires large thermally activated composition fluctuations for which the time scale is relatively long, even in the supercooled liquid. In the Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 alloy therefore a different pathway to crystallization is observed. The initially homogeneous alloy separates into two amorphous phases. In the decomposed regions, crystallization probability increases and finally polymorphic crystallization occurs. The evolution of decomposition and succeeding primary crystallization in the bulk amorphous Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 alloy have been studied by small angle neutron. Samples annealed isothermally in the supercooled liquid and in the solid state exhibit interference peaks indicating quasiperiodic inhomogeneities in the scattering length density. The related wavelengths increase with temperature according to the linear Cahn-Hilliard theory for spinodal decomposition. Also the time evolution of the interference peaks in the early stages is consistent with this theory. At later stages, X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy investigations confirm the formation of nanocrystals in the decomposed regions.

The changes in surface topography of thin metallic films during ion bombardment were investigated with STM. Pd and Au thin films, having defect-free, atomically flat areas over at least 300×300Å2 were bombarded with Ar+, Kr+, Xe+ ions. Ion energies and target temperatures were varied. The roughening after high fluence irradiation shows scaling with a roughness exponent 0.84. For 300 K target temperature we observe, both for Au and Pd, 3 D erosion, for 700 K, on the contrary, layer-by-layer erosion. The differences in erosion morphologies between Au and Pd surfaces are supposed to stem from differences in surface mobility of adatoms.

(0001) surfaces of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) were irradiated at 77K with 132Xe+ ions at energies between 50 keV and 900 keV. The ion fluences ranged between 1011 ions/cm2 and 1015 ions/cm2. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) was applied to image the irradiation induced defects at the surfaces. In case of orthogonal incidence and small ion fluence each incident ion induces one single hillock at the surface. These hillocks have typical lateral diameters of 2 nm and heights of several à. In many cases measurements of the hillocks with atomic resolution show disordered atomic arrangements. The hillocks are interpreted as the local volume expansion due to surface-near self-interstitials generated in the collision cascades of the ions. The high mobility of these interstitials parallel to the (0001) planes leads to a formation of interstitial clusters which cause the larger hillocks. Irradiation at an angle of incidence of 75° with respect to the surface normal effects a higher density of hillocks due to the higher number of recoils stopped in the uppermost lattice planes. The hillocks are arranged in chains which are aligned in the direction of the incident beam. Each of these chains marks a single collision cascade.

The evolution of the surface topography of thin amorphous Cu-Ti films during the film growth is investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy. The films begin to grow with smooth surfaces until the film thickness reaches a critical value. Then, within a small thickness interval, a grainy microstructure of the film develops which looks very similar to the microstructure of polycrystalline films. Measurements of the intrinsic macroscopic stress in these films during the film growth show compressive stresses in the early growth stages. Then a change to tensile stresses accompanies the change in the surface topography within the same thickness interval. Both, the surface topography and the intrinsic stresses, are always correlated and depend on the deposition temperature and on the film composition. We discuss implications of these observations on the origin of macroscopic intrinsic tensile stresses in amorphous transition metal films.

The star density distribution in NGC 1818, 2004, 1806 and 1846, which are representative for the “blue” and “red” globular clusters of the LMC, have been determined from star counts on B- and V- ESO Schmidt telescope plates. These have limiting magnitudes of about 21, thus stars with absolute magnitudes of about Mv ~ +2 are reached. It was found that the two cluster types can be treated as “polytropic stargas spheres” according to the Schuster law with an index n ~ 2.75.