Observation of η-Al41Sm5 reveals motif-aware structural evolution in Al-Sm alloys

Ye, Zhuo; Meng, F.; Zhang, Feng; Sun, Yang; Yang, L.; Zhou, S. H.; Napolitano, Ralph; Mendelev, Mikhail; Ott, Ryan; Kramer, Matthew; Wang, Cai-Zhuang; Ho, Kai-Ming

Observation of η-Al41Sm5 reveals motif-aware structural evolution in Al-Sm alloys

Date

2019-04-30

Authors

Ye, Zhuo

Meng, F.

Zhang, Feng

Sun, Yang

Yang, L.

Zhou, S. H.

Napolitano, Ralph

Mendelev, Mikhail

Ott, Ryan

Kramer, Matthew

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Ames National Laboratory

Ames National Laboratory is a government-owned, contractor-operated national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), operated by and located on the campus of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

For more than 70 years, the Ames National Laboratory has successfully partnered with Iowa State University, and is unique among the 17 DOE laboratories in that it is physically located on the campus of a major research university. Many of the scientists and administrators at the Laboratory also hold faculty positions at the University and the Laboratory has access to both undergraduate and graduate student talent.

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Physics and Astronomy

Physics and astronomy are basic natural sciences which attempt to describe and provide an understanding of both our world and our universe. Physics serves as the underpinning of many different disciplines including the other natural sciences and technological areas.

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Materials Science and Engineering

Materials engineers create new materials and improve existing materials. Everything is limited by the materials that are used to produce it. Materials engineers understand the relationship between the properties of a material and its internal structure — from the macro level down to the atomic level. The better the materials, the better the end result — it’s as simple as that.

Department

Ames National LaboratoryPhysics and AstronomyMaterials Science and Engineering

Abstract

Using an effective genetic algorithm, we uncover the structure of a metastable Al41Sm5 phase that supplements its family sharing similar short-range orders. The phase evolves upon heating an amorphous Al-9.7 at.% Sm ribbon, produced by melt-spinning. The dynamical phase selection is discussed with respect to the structural connections between the short-range packing motifs in the amorphous precursor and those observed in the selected phases. The phase elucidated here is one of several newly discovered large-unit-cell phases found to form during devitrification from the glass in this binary system, further illustrating the power and efficiency of our approach, the important role of structural hierarchy in phase selection, and the richness of the metastable phase landscape accessible from the glassy structure.