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MM: Fachverband Metall- und Materialphysik

MM 61: Liquid and Amorphous Metals V - Structure and structure formation

MM 61.3: Talk

Thursday, April 3, 2014, 16:15–16:30, IFW A

Spatial Distribution of Icosahedra in a Cu-Zr metallic glass — •Jérôme Zemp¹, Massimo Celino², Bernd Schönfeld¹, and Jörg F. Löffler¹ — ¹Laboratory of Metal Physics and Technology, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Switzerland — ²ENEA, C. R. Casaccia, Rome, Italy

Topological order in Cu₆₄Zr₃₆ metallic glass was studied by Molecular Dynamics simulations. Structure-specific nearest-neighbor histograms were used to highlight the unique role of Cu-centered icosahedra as compared to other types of Voronoi polyhedra: In both, the glassy and supercooled liquid temperature regime, only icosahedra show a distinct tendency to form superclusters, which is expressed by the strength of the first peak in the Cu-Cu nearest-neighbor histogram. The spatial distribution and interconnectivity of icosahedra were studied as a function of cooling rate and compared to a homogeneous icosahedra distribution. Thermal vibrations were avoided by considering the corresponding inherent structures. Chemical short-range order and potential energy will be discussed as possible reasons for clustering.