Fractal analysis on the cluster network in metallic liquid and glass

MH Yang and JH Li and BX Liu, JOURNAL OF ALLOYS AND COMPOUNDS, 757, 228-232 (2018).

DOI: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2018.05.069

To explore the atomic-level structure of metallic glasses, liquid melt quenched Tantalum was obtained by computer simulations, which mimics the experimental approach to the vitrification of metallic liquids by achieving an unprecedentedly high liquid-quenching rate. Through the local atomic structure analysis of the quenched Tantalum, it is shown that the atomic clusters assemble in space to further form skeletal networks by sharing various linking patterns, i.e. vertex, edge, face or volume linkages. By employing the established box-counting method, the cluster network is revealed to exhibit a fractal characteristic. The fractal dimension of the atomic cluster network is computed to be 2.3-2.5. Compared to other indirect fractal analysis method, the present work first provides a straightforward evidence of fractal structure, which promotes the understanding to the atomic configuration of metallic glasses. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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