Rapid chemical and topological ordering in supercooled liquid Cu46Zr54

Evidence for abrupt chemical ordering in a supercooled Cu46Zr54 liquid, obtained from high energy x-ray diffraction in a containerless processing environment, is presented. Relatively sudden changes were observed in the topological and chemical short-range order near 850oC, a temperature significantly below the liquidus and above the glass transition temperatures. A peak in the specific heat was observed with supercooling, with an onset near 850oC, the same temperature as the onset of chemical ordering, and a maximum near 700oC, consistent with the prediction of a molecular dynamics calculation using embedded atom potentials. The dominant short-range order below 850oC is incompatible with that of the primary crystallizing phases. This, and the possible development of strongly bonded, chemically ordered clustersmay explain unlikely bulk metallic glass formation in Cu-Zr and other binary alloys.