Structures and mechanical behaviors of Zr55 Cu35 Al10 bulk amorphous alloys at ambient and cryogenic temperatures

Based on a systematic study of pair distribution functions, carried out at cryogenic and ambient temperatures, on as-cast and crystallized ternary Zr-based bulk amorphous alloys (BAAs), we found that the atoms in BAAs are inhomogenously distributed at a local atomic level. They exist as different clusters with significantly shorter bond lengths than their crystallized counterpart structures-intermetallic compounds, and these structures exist stably in the amorphous state. This results in additional free volume, which is about ∼7% larger than that measured by the Archimedes method. The compressive strength measured at ∼77 K was found to be ∼16% larger than that measured at 298 K. In this study, an amorphous structural model is proposed, in which strongly bonded clusters acting as units are randomly distributed and strongly correlated to one another, as the free volume forms between clusters. Simulations with reverse Monte Carlo were performed by combining icosehadral and cubic structures as the initial structures for the BAA. The simulations show results consistent with our model. An attempt has been made to connect the relationship between amorphous structures and their mechanical properties. © 2006 The American Physical Society.