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Title: Atomic-scale dynamics of a model glass-forming metallic liquid: Dynamical crossover, dynamical decoupling, and dynamical clustering

Journal Article · · Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States). Dept. of Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering
  2. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, Dept of Physics and Astronomy
  3. Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States). Dept. of Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering and Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

The phase behavior of multi-component metallic liquids is exceedingly complex because of the convoluted many-body and many-elemental interactions. Herein, we present systematic studies of the dynamic aspects of such a model ternary metallic liquid Cu40Zr51Al9 using molecular dynamics simulation with embedded atom method. We observed a dynamical crossover from Arrhenius to super-Arrhenius behavior in the transport properties (diffusion coefficient, relaxation times, and shear viscosity) bordered at Tx ~1300K. Unlike in many molecular and macromolecular liquids, this crossover phenomenon occurs in the equilibrium liquid state well above the melting temperature of the system (Tm ~ 900K), and the crossover temperature is roughly twice of the glass-transition temperature (Tg). Below Tx, we found the elemental dynamics decoupled and the Stokes-Einstein relation broke down, indicating the onset of heterogeneous spatially correlated dynamics in the system mediated by dynamic communications among local configurational excitations. To directly characterize and visualize the correlated dynamics, we employed a non-parametric, unsupervised machine learning technique and identified dynamical clusters of atoms with similar atomic mobility. The revealed average dynamical cluster size shows an accelerated increase below Tx and mimics the trend observed in other ensemble averaged quantities that are commonly used to quantify the spatially heterogeneous dynamics such as the non-Gaussian parameter and the four-point correlation function.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1187921
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1178489
Journal Information:
Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Vol. 91, Issue 13; ISSN 1098-0121
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 82 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (19)

Prediction of pressure-promoted thermal rejuvenation in metallic glasses journal June 2016
Stretched and compressed exponentials in the relaxation dynamics of a metallic glass-forming melt journal December 2018
Universal localization transition accompanying glass formation: insights from efficient molecular dynamics simulations of diverse supercooled liquids journal January 2019
Revisiting the Stokes–Einstein relation for glass-forming melts journal January 2020
High temperature breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein relation in a computer simulated Cu-Zr melt journal March 2016
Assessing relationships between self-diffusion coefficient and viscosity in Ni-Al alloys based on the pair distribution function journal September 2019
Development of a semi-empirical potential suitable for molecular dynamics simulation of vitrification in Cu-Zr alloys journal December 2019
Role of chemical short-range order in atomic dynamics decoupling journal May 2017
Relaxation processes and physical aging in metallic glasses journal November 2017
Dynamics on next-neighbour distances in liquid and undercooled gallium journal November 2018
Chemical effect on the structural and dynamical properties in Zr-Ni-Al liquids journal September 2019
Slow structural relaxation process facilitates solidification in liquid gallium journal January 2020
Heterogeneous diffusion, viscosity, and the Stokes-Einstein relation in binary liquids journal May 2016
Revisiting the fragile-to-strong crossover in metallic glass-forming liquids: Application to Cu x Zr x Al 100 2 x alloy journal August 2019
Breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein relation above the melting temperature in a liquid phase-change material journal November 2018
Effects of Dopants on the Glass Forming Ability in Al-Based Metallic Alloy journal January 2018
Role of chemical short-range order in atomic dynamics decoupling text January 2017
Role of chemical short-range order in atomic dynamics decoupling text January 2017
Breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein Relation Above the Melting Temperature in a Liquid Phase-Change Material text January 2018

Figures / Tables (15)


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