The influence of irradiation with particles (0.4 MeV or 0.5 MeV H+, 1 MeV He+, or 1.4MeV 15N+) on the self-diffusion of 59Fe in melt-spun relaxed amorphous alloys was investigated by means of the radiotracer technique using ion-beam sputtering for serial sectioning of the specimens. In the temperature regime investigated (473-693K), irrespective of the kind of irradiation, in both Co58Fe5Ni10Si11B16 and Fe91Zr9 the diffusivities of 59Fe were enhanced and, as without irradiation, obeyed Arrhenius laws. Whereas under proton irradiation in both alloys the diffusion enthalpies were the same as without irradiation, the diffusivity enhancements in Fe91Zr9 under He+ and 15N+ irradiations were accompanied by a slight and a distinct decrease of the diffusion enthalpy, respectively. Combination of these findings with results of molecular-dynamics simulations of diffusion, electron-irradiation damaging, and thermal damage annealing in amorphous Fe-Zr alloys not only led to an understanding of the irradiation-enhanced diffusion phenomena but also confirmed a previous view that, without irradiation, diffusion in relaxed amorphous metallic alloys occurred via collective diffusion mechanisms that did not involve intrinsic point defects as diffusion vehicles.

Irradiation-Enhanced Self-Diffusion in Amorphous Metallic Alloys - Experiments, Molecular-Dynamics Simulations, Interpretation. Schuler, T., Hamlescher, U., Scharwaechter, P., Frank, W.: Defect and Diffusion Forum, 1997, 143-147, 753-8