Uncovering the mechanism of dynamics in metallic glass-forming liquids based on local symmetry entropy

Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to investigate the relationship of structure-dynamics in metallic glass-forming liquids. Fundamentally, it is found the degree of local symmetry plays an important role in the dynamics of glass-forming liquids. The local symmetry entropy is proposed and used for quantifying the degree of local symmetry. Local symmetry entropy is related to the rearrangements of a cage and translational diffusion. Particularly, the diffusion coefficient of metallic glass-forming liquids can be described by a local symmetry entropy scaling. Further exploration shows local symmetry entropy has a well linear correlation with two-pair entropy, suggesting that the decrease of symmetry entropy can contribute to the decrease of thermodynamic entropy in undercooled liquids in the cooling process.

Automated summary

The research reveals the significance of local symmetry in the dynamics of metallic glass-forming liquids, with local symmetry entropy playing a role in rearrangements and diffusion. The diffusion coefficient can be described by a scaling with local symmetry entropy, which also shows a linear correlation with two-pair entropy, indicating a contribution to the decrease of thermodynamic entropy in undercooled liquids during the cooling process.