Structural studies of a Ti–Zr–Ni quasicrystal-forming liquid

Abstract

Employing the technique of electrostatic levitation coupled with high-energy x-ray diffraction,Ti39.5Zr39.5Ni21 liquids were shown previously to develop significant short-range icosahedral orderwith supercooling. However, that conclusion was based on the assumption ofa single dominant cluster type in the liquid and the observed evolution of thehigh-q shoulder on the second peak in the structure factor,S(q). Here, new diffraction data that were obtained using more rapid data acquisitionmethods are presented. These allow structural studies to be made down to andthrough recalescence to the icosahedral quasicrystal. The liquid structures obtainedfrom a Reverse Monte Carlo analysis of these data are characterized by theirbond-angle distributions, Honeycutt and Andersen indices and bond orientational orderparameters. These analyses indicate that while there are several different types of localorder, the icosahedral short-range order is dominant and increases gradually withsupercooling.