Cooling rate dependence of structural order in Al90Sm10 metallic glass

The atomic structure of Al90Sm10 metallic glass is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. By performing a long sub-T-g annealing, we developed a glass model closer to the experiments than the models prepared by continuous cooling. Using the cluster alignment method, we found that 3661 cluster is the dominating short-range order in the glass samples. The connection and arrangement of 3661 clusters, which define the medium-range order in the system, are enhanced significantly in the sub-T-g annealed sample as compared with the fast cooled glass samples. Unlike some strong binary glass formers such as Cu64.5Zr35.5, the clusters representing the short-range order do not form an interconnected interpenetrating network in Al90Sm10, which has only marginal glass formability. Published by AIP Publishing.