Structural and dynamical properties of densely packed glass-forming Ni66.7B33.3

Abstract

We investigate the structure-dynamics relation of the densely packed, glass-forming Ni66.7⁢B33.3 melt using a combination of neutron diffraction and isotopic substitution as well as x-ray diffraction. By additionally utilizing the containerless experimental method of electrostatic levitation, we were able to obtain partial structure factors of high precision. Self- and interdiffusion coefficients were calculated by using the measured partial structure factors as an input for the mode-coupling theory of the glass transition. These are in qualitative agreement with experimentally measured results for liquid Ni66.7⁢B33.3. Despite a similar packing density in Zr64⁢Ni36, it is found that the calculated diffusivities for B and Ni in Ni66.7⁢B33.3 differ from each other by a factor of 2. However, the Darken approximation for the relation of self- and interdiffusion is applicable for the Ni66.7⁢B33.3 melt.