Hard spheres simulation of the size effect in liquid and amorphous metallic alloys

Abstract

Large random packings of hard spheres of different sizes were built to simulate binary liquid metallic alloys. The packing fractions of those networks were measured for various concentrations and diameter ratios. A light increase in packing fraction was found only for large differences in diameter ( d/ D < 0.7). This result is explained by the sizes of the interstitial sites of the random network. Expressed in term of molar volume for metallic alloys, it can be used to precise the contribution of the size effect to the excess mixing volume of alloys.