The x-ray structure factors and densities for liquid aluminum from 1123 K to 1273 K have been measured using the beamline electrostatic levitator. Atomic structures as a function of temperature have been constructed from the diffraction data with reverse Monte Carlo simulations. An analysis of the local atomic structures in terms of the Honeycutt-Andersen indices indicates a high degree of icosahedral and distorted icosahedral order, a modest amount of body-centered cubic order, and marginal amounts of face-centered cubic and hexagonal close-packed order.

Recent studies of Cu-Zr glasses have reported a rapid variation in the amorphous phase density near the optimal glass forming compositions, supporting the belief that the densest liquids are also the best glass formers. Here, we show that the measured densities of the Cu-Zr liquids at higher temperatures are not peaked sharply near these compositions, but the volume expansivities are. Theoretical studies have shown that the expansivity correlates with fragility near T(g); the experimental results presented here show that at high temperature they become anticorrelated. From energy landscape arguments, this indicates the existence of a crossover temperature for the expansivity-fragility correlation that scales inversely with the liquid fragility. These results lead to an improved understanding of the high temperature properties of liquids that form glasses and suggest a new method for identifying the best glass forming compositions within an alloy system from the properties of the equilibrium liquids.

The atomic structures in equilibrium and supercooled liquids of Zr 80 Pt 20 were determined as a function of temperature by in-situ high-energy synchrotron diffraction studies of the levitated liquids (containerless processing) using the beamline electrostatic levitation (BESL) technique. The presence of a pronounced pre-peak at q ~ 1.7 Å -1 in the static structure factor indicates medium range order (MRO) in the liquid. The position and intensity of the pre-peak remain constant with cooling, indicating that the MRO is already present in the liquid above its melting temperature. An analysis of the liquid atomic structures obtained using the Reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) method utilizing both the structure factor, S(q), from x-ray diffraction experiments and the partial pair-correlation functions from ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) simulations show that the pre-peak arises from a Pt-Pt correlation that can be indentified with icosahedral short-range order around the Pt atoms. The local atomic ordering is dominated by icosahedral-like structures, raising the nucleation barrier between the liquid and these phases, thus assisting glass formation.

Expressions for absorption and the secondary scattering intensity ratio are presented for a small beam impinging off-center of a spherical amorphous sample. Large gradients in the absorption correction are observed from small offsets from the central axis. Additionally, the secondary scattering intensity ratio causes an intensity asymmetry in the detector image. The secondary scattering intensity ratio is presented in integral form and must be computed numerically. An analytic, small-angle, asymptotic series solution for the integral form of the absorption correction is also presented.

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