| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2024 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
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| Symposium
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Structure-Property Relationships of Bulk Metallic Glasses
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| Presentation Title |
Three-dimensional Atomic Structure of Amorphous Materials |
| Author(s) |
Jianwei Miao |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Jianwei Miao |
| Abstract Scope |
For the past 60 years, icosahedral order has been widely considered as the prevalent atomic motif in monatomic liquids and amorphous materials. Here, we advance atomic electron tomography to determine the 3D atomic structure of monatomic amorphous materials, including a Ta thin film and two Pd nanoparticles. Despite the different synthesis methods, we find that pentagonal bipyramids are the most abundant atomic motifs in these amorphous materials. Instead of forming icosahedra, the majority of pentagonal bipyramids arrange into pentagonal bipyramid networks (PBNs) with medium-range order. Molecular dynamics simulations further reveal that PBNs are prevalent in monatomic metallic liquids, which rapidly grow in size and form more icosahedra during the quench from the liquid to the glass state. These results expand our understanding of the atomic structures of amorphous materials and will encourage future studies on amorphous–crystalline phase and glass transitions at the atomic scale. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Characterization, Phase Transformations, Nanotechnology |