Vol 2016, No 2 (2016)

The atomic packing density of metallic melts and glasses is too high for their structures to be considered as chaotic. To remove this contradiction, we propose to describe the structures of metallic liquids and the glasses that form from them using (i) a base set of three spirals made of regular tetrahedra with specific noncrystallographic symmetry and (ii) combinatorial permutations of the vertices of a set of the coordination polyhedra that describe the polymorphic transformations in metals. The symmetry base of the proposed model of the structures of liquids and glasses is represented by projective linear groups PSL(2, p), where the order of the Galois field is p = 3, 7, and 11. These groups uniquely determine a tetrahedron, the 7-vertex joining of four tetrahedra along their faces (tetrablock), the 11-vertex joining of two tetrablocks into a spiral, and the throwing over of the diagonals in a rhombus from two triangular faces of neighboring tetrahedra. The throwing over of the diagonals in a rhombus is considered as a unit act of any structural transformation and ensures the melt–crystal, melt–glass, and glass-crystal transitions and the structural relaxation of metallic glasses. In terms of the proposed scheme, the high density of melts and glasses is caused by tetrahedral packing (up to 78%), and the absence of a diffraction pattern of melts and glasses is explained by the absence of translation along the spiral axis. The suggested polymer model also explains the collective effects (string vibrations) that were detected upon measuring the shear modulus relaxation of a metallic glass.

The correction to the equation of state that is related to the nonergodicity of diffusion dynamics is discussed for a binary solid solution with a limited solubility. It is asserted that, apart from standard thermodynamic variables (temperature, volume, concentration), this correction should be taken into account in the form of the average local chemical potential fluctuations associated with microheterogeneity in order to plot a phase diagram. It is shown that a low value of this correction lowers the miscibility gap and that this gap splits when this correction increases. This situation is discussed for eutectic systems and Ga–Pb, Fe–Cu, and Cu–Zr alloys.

The structural, kinetic, and adhesion properties of nickel and mercury films on two- and one-layer graphene are studied by molecular dynamics simulation upon heating to 3300 and 1100 K, respectively. Two-sided coating of graphene with nickel retards the flow of metal atoms over the surface at T > 1800 K. In the presence of mercury on graphene, Stone–Wales defects and the hydrated edges of the graphene sheet withstand an increase in the temperature up to 800 K. As the temperature increases, the Hg film coagulates into a drop.

The results of measuring the density of copper–aluminum melts obtained by Kurochkin et al. by the penetrating γ-ray technique are used to correct the results of viscosimetric experiments with melts of this system performed earlier by Konstantinova, who had no data on the density at that time and used the values of density obtained by a linear extrapolation between the densities of the pure components. This led to an error between the published values of viscosity, reaching 20% in some cases. The refined calculation results for the viscosity taking into account new data on the density of the copper–aluminum melts are recommended for use as reference data.

The liquid Co₉₁B₉ alloy is used as an example to study the influence of boundary conditions at the upper melt boundary on the results of viscosity measurements using torsional vibrations. Specific features related to film effects and wetting phenomena are shown to appear in the temperature dependence of logarithmic decrement. To exclude the influence of these effects and phenomena, viscosity measurements should be performed under the experimental conditions where the melt to be studied is in closed volume and the internal crucible walls are fully wetted. The temperature dependence of the kinematic viscosity of the Co₉₁B₉ melt that is obtained under such experimental conditions has a monotonic character.

The results of modifying the Al–4% Cu alloy with test Al–1.04% Zr–0.70% Y and Al–1.23% Zr–0.39% Y master alloys are reported; the Zr-to-Y atomic-percentage ratio in the alloys is 1.41 and 3.08, respectively. The effect of small amounts of Zr and Y (from 0.1 to 0.3%) added in the form of test ternary master alloys of different compositions and binary Al–Zr and Al–Y master alloys on the grain refinement in the Al–4% Cu alloy has been studied. The structure of the initial alloy is characterized by pronounced directional solidification of the α phase. As the Zr + Y content increases, the columnar-crystal zone decreases and the equiaxed-crystal zone increases; at a (Zr + Y) content of 0.326%, only equiaxed crystals ~200 μm in size are present in an ingot. When Zr and Y are added with binary master alloys, the macrostructure of the modified Al–4% Cu alloys indicates that columnar crystals grow until their contact at the center of the ingot, and their growth is independent of the amount of added Zr and Y.