Eur. Phys. J. B (2016) 89: 223
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2016-60832-1

Regular Article

Local atomic structures of single-component metallic glasses

¹ Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée, Faculté des Sciences Ben M’Sik Hassan II, University of Casablanca, B. P 7955, Casablanca, Morocco
² Laboratoire LS3M, Faculté Polydisciplinaire Khouribga, University Hassan 1er, 26000 Settat, Morocco
³ Laboratoire d’ingénierie, procédés, optimisation, systèmes informatiques, École Nationale des Sciences Appliquées Khouribga, University Hassan 1er, 26000 Settat, Morocco

^a e-mail: tradysalma2@gmail.com

Received: 21 October 2015
Received in final form: 5 July 2016
Published online: 10 October 2016

Abstract

In this study we examine the structural properties of single-component metallic glasses of aluminum. We use a molecular dynamics simulation based on semi-empirical many-body potential, derived from the embedded atom method (EAM). The radial distribution function (RDF), common neighbors analysis method (CNA), coordination number analysis (CN) and Voronoi tessellation are used to characterize the metal’s local structure during the heating and cooling (quenching). The simulation results reveal that the melting temperature depends on the heating rate. In addition, atomic visualization shows that the structure of aluminum after fast quenching is in a glassy state, confirmed quantitatively by the splitting of the second peak of the radial distribution function, and by the appearance of icosahedral clusters observed via CNA technique. On the other hand, the Wendt-Abraham parameters are calculated to determine the glass transition temperature (T_g), which depends strongly on the cooling rate; it increases while the cooling rate increases. On the basis of CN analysis and Voronoi tessellation, we demonstrate that the transition from the Al liquid to glassy state is mainly due to the formation of distorted and perfect icosahedral clusters.