Density and Packing in Uranium Based Metallic Glasses

Abstract

AbstractDensity and x-ray diffraction measurements were performed over a wide compositional range of U-Fe and U-Co metallic glass ribbons. The compositional dependence of both the density and the average nearest neighbor distance exhibits a change in slope at approximately 28 at.% transition metal. This suggests an “ideal” glass composition possessing a minimum excess volume. A qualitative model of atomic packing is proposed, which is based on the compositional dependence of the atomic volume and nearest neighbor distance.