Metallic glasses are alloys that have disordered atomic structures, giving them unique physical and mechanical properties compared to traditional crystalline metals. They have high strength and corrosion resistance, good thermal stability, and are lightweight, making them valuable in a range of applications including aerospace, biomedical engineering, and electronic components. Additionally, their unique properties allow for design and manufacturing of complex shapes and structures, making them promising materials for advanced technologies.
X-ray Pair Distribution Function (PDF) analysis is used in materials science to study the atomic-level structure of materials. It involves collecting and analyzing X-ray data to determine the pairwise distance distributions between atoms in a material. This information can be used to identify the local arrangements of atoms, determine the degree of short-range order, and estimate the average coordination number in the material. In the case of metallic glasses, PDF analysis can provide insights into the disordered atomic structure and the distribution of different chemical elements in the material, helping to explain its unique properties and potential applications.
In this contribution, we investigated the local structure of a thin film metallic glass made with the composition vanadium/molybdenum (80%:20% in weight) coated with 6 nm of Pd. For this purpose, we have used grazing incidence pair distribution function analysis on a laboratory system. The ability to measure in grazing incidence is of prime importance in order to characterize the local order of the metallic glass without penetrating too much in order to prevent any scattering from the substrate. Our experimental results are well described by taking into account the presence of a thin film layer of Pd metal at the surface with the addition of a glass having a local structure similar to the bulk structure of vanadium metal. This works illustrate the latest development done on a laboratory diffractometer opening new possibilities for the characterization of the local structure of amorphous thin films.