ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on amorphous/crystalline metallic composites, relatively novel materials that can be produced quite easily by controlled thermal protocols starting from metallic glasses (MG). It also focuses on the experimental preparation of an amorphous/nanocrystalline composite, for investigates the transport properties through order/disorder interfaces at the nanoscale. The effects of nanocrystalline inclusions on the thermal properties of a metallic glass start from their effect on the electric conductivity Indeed, even if poorer metals with respect to their crystalline counterpart, MG remain good electric conductors, which means that the most of heat transport is assured by electrons. Amorphous/nanocrystalline composites are of great interest for materials scientists, as their properties are usually different from both their amorphous and crystalline counterparts. They have been long investigated for the enhancement of mechanical properties, such as improved plasticity; however much needs to be understood as for the effect of the interfaces on many properties, like thermal and electronic transport.
