Investigation of short-range structural order in Zr69.5Cu12Ni11Al7.5, Zr41.5Ti41.5Ni17 and Zr67Ni33 metallic glasses using X-ray absorption spectroscopy and ab-initio molecular dynamics simulations

We have investigated the short-range-order of Zr69.5Cu12Ni11Al7.5, Zr41.5Ti41.5Ni17 and Zr67Ni33 metallic glasses, using X-ray absorption spectroscopy and ab-initio molecular dynamics simulations. The glass-forming-abilities of these alloys degrade as: Zr41.5Ti41.5Ni17 > Zr69.5Cu12Ni11Al7.5 > Zr67Ni33. While superior glass formation ability of the multi-component alloys is understandable from confusion principle, better glass formation ability of Zr41.5Ti41.5Ni17 than Zr69.5Cu12Ni11Al7.5 is paradoxical from confusion viewpoint. We resolve this paradox by quantitatively assessing the relative importance of icosahedral content, configuration diversity, intra-cluster disorder and chemical interaction in these three systems. Our results establish that large difference in these parameters exists 1 Corresponding author. Tel.: + 91 22 2559 2991; fax: + 91 22 2550 5296 Email address: [email protected]; [email protected] (D. Lahiri) *Manuscript Click here to view linked References