The generalised vibrational density of states and total dynamic structure factor of the metallic glass Zr 65Gu 17.5Ni 10Al 7.5 measured at room temperature

Abstract

The generalised vibrational density of states (GVDOS) and the total dynamic structure factor of the metallic glass Zr 65Cu 17.5Ni 10Al 7.5 has been determined at room temperature using thermal neutron inelastic scattering techniques. The GVDOS has a relatively sharp maximum at 22.6 meV but shows very little structure otherwise and it extends out to rather high energies (approximately 60 meV). The total dynamic structure factor is a smoothly decaying function of energy, very similar to that of Zr 54Cu 40, however with a higher intensity of low energy modes. A considerable amount of these seem to be localized as their intensity-variation is surprisingly small in the region of momentum transfers covered in this experiment.