Bonding and dynamics in liquid metallic alloys

Rheology of liquid metals and alloys

“…The observable resistance to flow from the atomic structure of liquid metals (monatomic systems) arises from the significantly high coordination number, density and interaction energy of the atoms in these systems as compared to non-metallic liquid systems (molecular systems) [25,26]. Further, the structure of most liquid metals with a high coordination number are characterized by a cloud of delocalized electrons in all directions which are shared by a large number of atoms in the liquid and additionally, the availability of a significantly greater number of delocalized energy states than the delocalized electrons; contributing to the typical metallic properties such as thermal and electrical conductivity, ductility, malleability, hardness and strength.…”

On the minimum size of metallic clusters in a liquid semiconductor system

“…Examples are metal-tellurium alloys (Cu-Te [8], Sn-Te [5], Cs-Au [6]). This behaviour appears natural if one assumes that each atom, A or B, in the liquid alloy A-B can be in two distinct states as indicated by (l), with a fast dynamic equilibrium between them.…”