A review was presented of the current understanding of atomic diffusion in metallic glasses. The available experimental data were first analyzed, and particular emphasis was placed on the consistency of the results for various amorphous systems. It was shown that the available data still probably included unreliable values. It was suggested that this might partially explain the correlation between pre-exponential terms and activation energies which had been observed. The main characteristics of random walks in a random medium were briefly presented as a statistical model for defect-mediated diffusion in glasses. Finally, an analysis was presented of the atomic mechanisms which had been proposed for diffusion.

Y.Limoge: Materials Science and Engineering A, 1997, 226-228, 228-36