A computational study of diffusion in a glass-forming metallic liquid

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2015-06-09
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Wang, T.
Zhang, F.
Yang, L.
Fang, X. W.
Zhou, S. H.
Kramer, Matthew
Wang, Cai-Zhuang
Ho, Kai-Ming
Napolitano, Ralph
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Napolitano, Ralph
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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.
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Ames National LaboratoryPhysics and AstronomyMaterials Science and Engineering
Abstract

Liquid phase diffusion plays a critical role in phase transformations (e.g. glass transformation and devitrification) observed in marginal glass forming systems such as Al-Sm. Controlling transformation pathways in such cases requires a comprehensive description of diffusivity, including the associated composition and temperature dependencies. In the computational study reported here, we examine atomic diffusion in Al-Sm liquids using ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) and determine the diffusivities of Al and Sm for selected alloy compositions. Non-Arrhenius diffusion behavior is observed in the undercooled liquids with an enhanced local structural ordering. Through assessment of our AIMD result, we construct a general formulation for Al-Sm liquid, involving a diffusion mobility database that includes composition and temperature dependence. A Volmer-Fulcher-Tammann (VFT) equation is adopted for describing the non-Arrhenius behavior observed in the undercooled liquid. The composition dependence of diffusivity is found quite strong, even for the Al-rich region contrary to the sole previous report on this binary system. The model is used in combination with the available thermodynamic database to predict specific diffusivities and compares well with reported experimental data for 0.6 at.% and 5.6 at.% Sm in Al-Sm alloys.

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This article is published as Wang, T., F. Zhang, L. Yang, X. W. Fang, S. H. Zhou, M. J. Kramer, C. Z. Wang, K. M. Ho, and R. E. Napolitano. "A computational study of diffusion in a glass-forming metallic liquid." Scientific Reports 5 (2015): 10956. DOI: 10.1038/srep10956. Posted with permission.

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Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 2015
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