Amorphous materials such as glass,polymer and amorphous alloy have broad applications ranging from daily life to extreme conditions due to their unique properties in elasticity,strength and electrical resistivity.A be...Amorphous materials such as glass,polymer and amorphous alloy have broad applications ranging from daily life to extreme conditions due to their unique properties in elasticity,strength and electrical resistivity.A better understanding of atomic structure of amorphous materials will provide invaluable information for their further engineering and applications.However,experimentally determining the three-dimensional(3D)atomic structure of amorphous materials has been a long-standing problem.Due to the disordered atomic arrangement,amorphous materials do not have any translational and rotational symmetry at long-range scale.Conventional characterization methods,such as the scattering and the microscopy imaging,can only provide the statistic structural information which is averaged over the macroscopic region.The knowledge of the 3D atomic structure of amorphous materials is limited.Recently atomic resolution electron tomography(AET)has proven an increasingly powerful tool for atomic scale structural characterization without any crystalline assumptions,which opens a door to determine the 3D structure of various amorphous materials.In this review,we summarize the state-of-art characterization methods for the exploration of atomic structures of amorphous materials in the past few decades,including X-ray/neutron diffraction,nano-beam and angstrom-beam electron diffraction,fluctuation electron microscopy,high-resolution scanning/transmission electron microscopy,and atom probe tomography.From experimental data and theoretical descriptions,3D structures of various amorphous materials have been built up.Particularly,we introduce the principles and recent progress of AET,and highlight the most recent groundbreaking feat accomplished by AET,i.e.,the first experimental determination of all 3D atomic positions in a multi-component glass-forming alloy and the 3D atomic packing in amorphous solids.We also discuss the new opportunities and challenges for characterizing the chemical and structural defects in amorphous materials.展开更多
The atomic structures of Zr-Ni and Zr-Ti-Al-Cu-Ni metallic glasses were investigated by using classical molecular dynamic (MD),reverse Monte Carlo (RMC),ab initio MD (AIMD) simulations and high resolution transmission...The atomic structures of Zr-Ni and Zr-Ti-Al-Cu-Ni metallic glasses were investigated by using classical molecular dynamic (MD),reverse Monte Carlo (RMC),ab initio MD (AIMD) simulations and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) techniques. We focused on the short-range order (SRO) and medium-range order (MRO) in the glassy structure. It is shown that there are icosahedral,FCC-and BCC-type SROs in the Zr-based metallic glasses. A structural model,characterized by imperfect ordered packing (IOP),was proposed based on the MD simulation and confirmed by the HRTEM observation. Furthermore,the evolution from IOP to nanocrystal during the crystallization of metallic glasses was also ex-plored. It is found that the growth from IOP to nanocrystal proceeds through three distinct stages: the formation of quasi-ordered structure with one-dimensional (1D) periodicity,then 2D periodicity,and finally the formation of 3D nanocrystals. It is also noted that these three growth steps are crosslinked.展开更多
Based on the mechanism of metal solid-liquid phase change and the theory of liquid metal's micro-inhomogeneity,a physical model is established between latent heats of fusion and vaporization and the numbers of res...Based on the mechanism of metal solid-liquid phase change and the theory of liquid metal's micro-inhomogeneity,a physical model is established between latent heats of fusion and vaporization and the numbers of residual bonds and short-range ordered atoms at the melting point inside a metal melt.Meanwhile,the mathematical derivation and proof are also offered.This model produces the numbers of residual bonds and short-range ordered atoms after the solid-liquid phase change only by using basic parameters and thermophysical properties of the crystal structure.Therefore,it presents a more effective way to analyze the melt's structural information.By using this model,this study calculates the numbers of residual bonds and short-range ordered atoms in Al and Ni melts.The calculated results are consistent with the experimental results.Simultaneously,this study discusses the atomic number's influence on the numbers of residual bonds and short-range ordered atoms in the melts within the first(ⅠA) and second main group(ⅡA) elements.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(22172003)High-performance Computing Platform of Peking University.
文摘Amorphous materials such as glass,polymer and amorphous alloy have broad applications ranging from daily life to extreme conditions due to their unique properties in elasticity,strength and electrical resistivity.A better understanding of atomic structure of amorphous materials will provide invaluable information for their further engineering and applications.However,experimentally determining the three-dimensional(3D)atomic structure of amorphous materials has been a long-standing problem.Due to the disordered atomic arrangement,amorphous materials do not have any translational and rotational symmetry at long-range scale.Conventional characterization methods,such as the scattering and the microscopy imaging,can only provide the statistic structural information which is averaged over the macroscopic region.The knowledge of the 3D atomic structure of amorphous materials is limited.Recently atomic resolution electron tomography(AET)has proven an increasingly powerful tool for atomic scale structural characterization without any crystalline assumptions,which opens a door to determine the 3D structure of various amorphous materials.In this review,we summarize the state-of-art characterization methods for the exploration of atomic structures of amorphous materials in the past few decades,including X-ray/neutron diffraction,nano-beam and angstrom-beam electron diffraction,fluctuation electron microscopy,high-resolution scanning/transmission electron microscopy,and atom probe tomography.From experimental data and theoretical descriptions,3D structures of various amorphous materials have been built up.Particularly,we introduce the principles and recent progress of AET,and highlight the most recent groundbreaking feat accomplished by AET,i.e.,the first experimental determination of all 3D atomic positions in a multi-component glass-forming alloy and the 3D atomic packing in amorphous solids.We also discuss the new opportunities and challenges for characterizing the chemical and structural defects in amorphous materials.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 50431030 and 50471097)the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB613901)the Programme of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities (Grant No. B07003)
文摘The atomic structures of Zr-Ni and Zr-Ti-Al-Cu-Ni metallic glasses were investigated by using classical molecular dynamic (MD),reverse Monte Carlo (RMC),ab initio MD (AIMD) simulations and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) techniques. We focused on the short-range order (SRO) and medium-range order (MRO) in the glassy structure. It is shown that there are icosahedral,FCC-and BCC-type SROs in the Zr-based metallic glasses. A structural model,characterized by imperfect ordered packing (IOP),was proposed based on the MD simulation and confirmed by the HRTEM observation. Furthermore,the evolution from IOP to nanocrystal during the crystallization of metallic glasses was also ex-plored. It is found that the growth from IOP to nanocrystal proceeds through three distinct stages: the formation of quasi-ordered structure with one-dimensional (1D) periodicity,then 2D periodicity,and finally the formation of 3D nanocrystals. It is also noted that these three growth steps are crosslinked.
基金supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No 2007CB613702)International Cooperation Program in Science and Technology (Grant No 2007DFC50090)
文摘Based on the mechanism of metal solid-liquid phase change and the theory of liquid metal's micro-inhomogeneity,a physical model is established between latent heats of fusion and vaporization and the numbers of residual bonds and short-range ordered atoms at the melting point inside a metal melt.Meanwhile,the mathematical derivation and proof are also offered.This model produces the numbers of residual bonds and short-range ordered atoms after the solid-liquid phase change only by using basic parameters and thermophysical properties of the crystal structure.Therefore,it presents a more effective way to analyze the melt's structural information.By using this model,this study calculates the numbers of residual bonds and short-range ordered atoms in Al and Ni melts.The calculated results are consistent with the experimental results.Simultaneously,this study discusses the atomic number's influence on the numbers of residual bonds and short-range ordered atoms in the melts within the first(ⅠA) and second main group(ⅡA) elements.
