Binary rare earth element-Ni/Co metallic glasses with distinct β-relaxation behaviors

We report the formation of a series of rare earth element (RE)-Ni/Co binary metallic glasses (MGs) with unusual distinct beta-relaxation peak compared with that of most of the reported MGs which usually exhibit as an excess wing or a shoulder. The beta-relaxation behavior of RE-Ni/Co MGs is sensitive to the composition and the atomic radii of the RE and can be tuned through changing the fraction of RE-Ni (or Co) atomic pairs. The novel RE-Ni/Co MGs with distinct beta-relaxation can serve as model system to investigate the nature of the beta-relaxation as well as its relations with other physical and mechanical properties of MGs. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.