The available methods for measuring the diffusion rates of metalloids in metallic glasses were critically reviewed, and advantages of studying boron diffusion using secondary ion mass spectrometry were advanced. A surface coating, having a chemical composition similar to that of the glass but enriched in 10B, was deposited onto the polished pre-annealed glass by sputtering. The samples were diffusion-annealed and profiled by secondary ion mass spectrometry. Subsequent tests showed that some samples had partly crystallized and these exhibited anomalously low diffusion rates. At 340 to 370C, the B diffusivity varied from about 2 x 10−19 to 7 x 10−18m2/s. The results did not obey an Arrhenius relationship.

Direct Measurement by Secondary-Ion Mass Spectrometry of Self-Diffusion of Boron in Fe40Ni40B20 Glass. R.W.Cahn, J.E.Evetts, J.Patterson, R.E.Somekh, C.K.Jackson: Journal of Materials Science, 1980, 15[3], 702-10