Modeling the atomic structure of an amorphous Co25Nb75 alloy produced by mechanical alloying using an additive hard sphere model and RMC simulations

The local atomic order of an amorphous Co25Nb75 alloy produced by mechanical alloying was studied by X-ray diffraction and modeled considering an additive hard sphere model and also reverse Monte Carlo simulations of its X-ray structure factor. From both methods the partial Gij(r) functions and Sij(K) factors were determined. From these functions, coordination numbers and interatomic distances for the first neighbors were calculated and compared to each other. The alloy has a weak chemical short-range order and a preference for unlike pairs.