On Structural Rearrangements during the Vitrification of Molten Copper

Abstract

We utilise displacement analysis of Cu-atoms between the chemical bond-centred Voronoi polyhedrons to reveal structural changes at the glass transition. We confirm that the disordered congruent bond lattice of Cu loses its rigidity above the glass transition temperature (Tg) in line with Kantor–Webman theorem due to percolation via configurons (broken Cu-Cu chemical bonds). We reveal that the amorphous Cu has the Tg = 794 ± 10 K at the cooling rate q = 1 × 1013 K/s and that the determination of Tg based on analysis of first sharp diffraction minimum (FDSM) is sharper compared with classical Wendt–Abraham empirical criterion.