“Soft” atoms in Zr70Pd30 metal–metal amorphous alloy

The atomic structure of Zr70Ni30−xPdx (x = 0–30) amorphous alloys (AAs) was systematically investigated via synchrotron radiation-based experiments and simulations. A relatively short Zr–Pd bond was detected in Zr70Pd30, which is attributed to the strong interaction between Zr and Pd “soft” atoms. This phenomenon was further explained by performing electronic interaction calculations upon some Voronoi clusters in the ZrPd sample and clusters extracted from the corresponding crystal phases. We suggest that soft atoms may have a significant impact on the internal structure in some metal–metal AAs.