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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 86 » Issue 13
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 2826–2829 (2001)

Amorphous Structures in the Immiscible Ag-Ni System

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J. H. He1, H. W. Sheng1, P. J. Schilling2, C.-L. Chien3, and E. Ma1
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218
2Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana 70145
3Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218

Received 26 July 2000; published in the issue dated 26 March 2001

Vapor quenching in the phase-separating Ag-Ni system creates alloys that appear homogeneously amorphous under conventional probes. However, an atomic-level structural analysis based on extended x-ray absorption fine structures in combination with reverse Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations demonstrates that these new phases are characterized by nonuniform, spinodal-like structures on an extremely fine scale. This heterogeneous nature of the structure is directly responsible for the unexpectedly low heat (and temperature) of crystallization observed in calorimetric measurements.

© 2001 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.2826
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.2826
PACS:
61.43.-j, 61.10.Ht, 64.60.My, 82.60.Lf
 
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