X-ray diffraction study of the structure of Al-Co melts

The structure of Al-Co melts with 0 at.%, 10 at.%, 18 at.%, 23.5 at.%, 26 at.%, 80.7 at.%, and 100 at.% Co has been studied by X-ray diffraction. Inverse Monte Carlo simulation using the experimental curves of the structural factor was employed to reconstruct the models of melts, analyzed by the Voronoi-Delaunay technique. The dependence of parameters that define short-and longer range ordering of atoms is nonmonotonous in the range 85–74 at.% Al and is extremal in the vicinity of a melt with 76.5 at.% Al. In the stated range of concentrations, the cobalt atoms basically lie at distances of ≈4.2 Å in the pentagonal rings of icosahedral type polytetrahedral clusters. Therefore one can speak about correlation in the character of atomic ordering in melts and corresponding periodic and quasiperiodic phases.