Liquid Structures of Metallic Glass-forming Binary Zr Alloys

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe have analyzed liquid structures of the binary Zr-TM (TM=Pd, Cu, Ni) alloys as a function of composition to investigate relations with their glass-forming abilities. High-energy x-ray (E=113 keV) diffraction experiments were performed and a conical nozzle levitation (CNL) technique was applied to achieve a containerless condition for highly reactive melts with high temperature. Structure information of the liquid alloys has been obtained with the aid of reverse Monte Carlo simulation. A shoulder was found at high-Q side of the second peak for the structure factor for Zr70Pd30 as well as the Zr70Cu30 alloy and the Zr50Cu50 alloys, which can be indication of the formation of ISRO in the liquid alloys. Liquid Zr-Ni alloys shows an apparent difference in the structure factors between the Zr70Ni30 and the Zr50Ni50 alloys, which can be associated with the formation of the chemical short range ordering, whereas the Zr-Pd alloys show a typical random distribution of atoms.