Structure of liquid Al–Cu–Co alloys near the quasicrystal-forming range

A local short-to-intermediate range order in liquid Al63.9Cu19.4Co16.7, Al71Cu6Co23, and Al6oCu29Co11 alloys was investigated by X-ray diffraction technique and the reverse Monte Carlo modeling. A prepeak at Q ~ 17 nm− 1originating from the unique bonding between the TM–TM pair (TM = Co, Cu) is observed in the structure factors of all investigated melts. The Voronoi–Delaunay analysis of RMC models indicates that a medium-range ordering of TM atoms in dense non-crystalline polytetrahedral clusters is associated with a chemical short-range order. The icosahedral short-range order is also closely related to the dense packing polytetrahedral clusters. A decrease of temperature leads to an enhancement of both chemical short-range order and icosahedral short-range order.

Research Highlights
► Investigation of the short-to-intermediate range order in the liquid Al-Cu-Co alloys.
► Temperature evolution of the prepeak and the shoulder of the second maximum on the structure factor.
► Analysis of the ISRO and the CSRO in the models of liquid alloys.
► Interrelation between the ISRO and the CSRO in the liquid Al-Cu-Co alloys.