Abstract
In amorphous transition metal-metalloid alloys, nearest neighbor short range order about metalloid atoms, and to a lesser extent about transition metal atoms, is similar, at least in an average sense, to that in the corresponding crystalline intermetallic compounds. In amorphous transition metal-metalloid alloys which are strongly ferromagnetic, magnetic moments and Curie temperatures are only weakly affected by the absence of crystalline long range order or by dispersions in near neighbor configurations. Magnetic moments and ordering temperatures of amorphous rare earth metal-transition metal alloys RE Fe2 and RE Co2 differ significantly from those of the corresponding Laves phase crystalline RE TM2 compounds, and X-ray and neutron scattering studies of several of the amorphous alloys indicate significant differences in nearest neighbor short range order between the Laves phase crystalline compounds and the amorphous alloys. These differences in short range order may be largely responsible for the observed changes in magnetic properties. © 1977.