Atomic sizes of impurity atoms in metallic glasses

An analysis of the isomer shift of⁵⁷Fe impurity atoms in glassy and crystalline Y-TM alloys is presented. This method provides a simple means of interpreting the isomer shift values in terms of the atomic volume occupied by Fe atoms in these materials. For the crystalline compounds YTM2, the Fe atoms occupy the same volume normally occupied by the TM atom. The atomic volumes occupied by Fe in the glasses is found to be between that of the TM and Fe. This implies that a relaxation of the atomic structure occurs in the glasses.