A search for static structure changes in disordered systems in connection with atomic mobility changes

• Published in: Materials science & engineering. A, Structural materials : properties, microstructure and processing Structural materials : properties, microstructure and processing, 1994-04, Vol.178 (1), p.279-283
• Main Authors: Duine, Peter A., Pusztai, László, Sietsma, Jilt
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amorphous semiconductors, metals, and alloys; Applied sciences; Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Disordered solids; Exact sciences and technology; Metals. Metallurgy; Physics; Structure of solids and liquids; crystallography
• ISSN: 0921-5093; 1873-4936
• DOI: 10.1016/0921-5093(94)90554-1

A study is performed on two types of static structures for disordered systems: one consists of atomic configurations of a Lennard-Jones liquid on either side of the ergodicity transition (G. Wahnström, Phys. Rev. A, 44 (1991) 3752) and the other of atomic configurations for as-quenched and annealed amorphous Pd 52Ni 32P 16, derived from experimental diffraction data (M. Schaal, P. Lamparter and S. Steeb, Z. Naturforsh. A, 43 (1988) 1055) by the Reverse Monte Carlo technique. The static structures are analysed in order to find features that can be connected to the differences in atomic mobility. In amorphous PdNiP a free-volume effect is observable in both systems the irregularity of the nearest-neighbour shells is affected in a similar manner. This parameter was seen to be important for the atomic mobility in an earlier study by J.M. Delaye and Y. Limoge ( J. Non-Cryst. Solids, 156–158 (1993) 982).