Excess free volume and structural properties of inert gas condensation synthesized nanoparticles based CuZr nanoglasses

Nanoglass (NG) as a new structure-tunable material has been investigated using both experiments and computational modeling. Experimentally, inert gas condensation (IGC) is commonly employed to prepare metallic glass (MG) nanoparticles that are consolidated using cold compression to generate an NG. In computational modeling, various methods have been used to generate NGs. However, due to the high computational cost involved, heretofore modeling investigations have not followed the experimental synthesis route. In this work, we use molecular dynamics simulations to generate an NG model by consolidating IGC-prepared Cu64Zr36 nanoparticles following a workflow similar to that of experiments. The resulting structure is compared with those of NGs produced following two alternative procedures previously used: direct generation employing Voronoi tessellation and consolidation of spherical nanoparticles carved from an MG sample. We focus on the characterization of the excess free volume and the Voronoi polyhedral statistics in order to identify and quantify contrasting features of the glass-glass interfaces in the three NG samples prepared using distinct methods. Results indicate that glass-glass interfaces in IGC-based NGs are thicker and display higher structural contrast with their parent MG structure. Nanoparticle-based methods display excess free volume exceeding 4%, in agreement with experiments. IGC-prepared nanoparticles, which display Cu segregation to their surfaces, generate the highest glass-glass interface excess free volume levels and the largest relative interface volume with excess free volume higher than 3%. Voronoi polyhedral analysis indicates a sharp drop in the full icosahedral motif fraction in the glass-glass interfaces in nanoparticle-based NG as compared to their parent MG.

On the structural origin of free volume in 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium ionic liquid mixtures: a SAXS and 129Xe NMR study

The structural origins of excess free volume in mixtures of ionic liquids featuring different alkyl chain lengths are identified by combining 129Xe NMR and SAXS techniques.

Исследование формирования избыточного свободного объема в тройных стыках границ зерен при кристаллизации на примере никеля

The formation of an excess free volume in triple junctions during crystallization has been studied by the molecular dynamics model using nickel as an example. It is shown that an excess free volume that forms during nickel crystallization in triple junctions predominantly forms as a result of the fixation of the liquid phase volume when contacting three crystallization fronts that contains, after crystallization, a high fraction of the free volume. In some cases, as the free volume is concentrated in triple junctions, a comparatively small crystalline subgrain (from one to several nanometers in diameter) forms, and the subgrain has the orientation different from those of contacting grains and exists in the extended state.

The Causes of Formation of the Triple Junctions of Grain Boundaries Containing Excess Free Volume in fcc Metals at Crystallization

The formation conditions of strained (non-equilibrium) triple junctions of grain boundaries were studied by the method of molecular dynamics. It is shown that strained triple junctions, containing excess free volume, mainly forms during crystallization process in the result of "locking" of the liquid phase density at a meeting of the three crystallization fronts and, as a consequence, of the concentration of excess free volume in the triple junction after solidification.