Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
A combined conversion electron and γ-transmission Mössbauer spectroscopy is applied to investigate the differences in the surface and bulk crystallization of the amorphous Fe-M-B-Cu (M: Zr, Ti, Nb, Ta) alloys. It is shown that the surface crystallization occurs at an annealing temperature lower than in the bulk. The nanocrystalline bcc Fe phase is significantly more abundant at the surface than in the bulk in the entire annealing temperature range.