Application of the model of delocalized atoms to metallic glasses

Abstract

The parameters of the model of delocalized atoms applied to metallic glasses have been calculated using the data on empirical constants of the Vogel–Fulcher–Tammann equation (for the temperature dependence of viscosity). It has been shown that these materials obey the same glass-formation criterion as amorphous organic polymers and inorganic glasses. This fact qualitatively confirms the universality of the main regularities of the liquid–glass transition process for all amorphous materials regardless of their origin. The energy of the delocalization of an atom in metallic glasses, Δε_e ≈ 20–25 kJ/mol, coincides with the results obtained for oxide inorganic glasses. It is substantially lower than the activation energies for a viscous flow and for ion diffusion. The delocalization of an atom (its displacement from the equilibrium position) for amorphous metallic alloys is a low-energy small-scale process similar to that for other glass-like systems.