Chapter 20 - Amorphous Materials

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the structure, formation criteria, and preparation technology of amorphous materials. Amorphous materials are among the important types of nonequilibrium materials. The solid physics refers to crystal physics, usually in equilibrium state in which the atomic arrangement is of long-range periodicity. The metastable materials far from the equilibrium state have become one of the most active research fields. Crystalline and amorphous materials are all real solids, possessing basic characteristics of solid materials. The main discrepancy is the difference in atomic-scale structure. In crystal, the atomic equilibrium locations are arranged in a long-range periodicity, and on the contrary, in the amorphous there is a lack of long-range periodicity and they have a disordered arrangement. In this case the amorphous material can also be termed metallic glass material. The radial distribution function is used to characterize the structure of amorphous alloy, in which there exists short-range order having the nearest and subnearest coordinations, therefore in the radial distribution function curve there are clear first and second peaks. Also the amorphous alloy has no long-range order distribution function curve.