Structure of glassy Cu47.5Zr47.5Ag5 investigated with neutron diffraction with isotopic substitution, X-ray diffraction, EXAFS and reverse Monte Carlo simulation

The structure of glassy Cu47.5Zr47.5Ag5 has been investigated by neutron diffraction with isotopic substitution, X-ray diffraction as well as with Cu and Ag K-edge extended X-ray absorption spectroscopy (EXAFS). Experimental datasets have been fitted simultaneously with the reverse Monte Carlo simulation technique. Nearest neighbor distances and coordination numbers have been determined and compared with those of glassy Cu50Zr50 and Cu47.5Zr47.5Al5. It has been found that the Cu-Cu coordination number drops upon adding Al or Ag to Cu50Zr50. Both Ag and Al prefer Zr to Cu. The total coordination number of Ag is 13.9 ± 0.6 while that of Al is 10.2 ± 1.0 suggesting that in spite of their similar molar volumes the effective sizes of Ag and Al in the CuZr matrix are quite different.