Molecular Dynamics Study of the Structure of a Rapidly Quenched Metal

Abstract

The molecular dynamics method is used to simulate the rapid-quenching process of a simple liquid metal. The model consists of 864 particles with the density-dependent effective pair potential, which can describe the structure of liquid rubidium above the melting point. The rapid-quenching process from just above the melting point of rubidium down to around 4.2 K is simulated by subtracting the kinetic energy of particles intermittently with the quenching rate of 4.5×10¹² Ks⁻¹. In the final quenched state at 4.5 K both the pair distribution function and the structure factor show a feature of amorphous states, that is, the split second peak. The relative positions and the ratio of the heights of these split subpeaks are very close to those of the quenched argon (the molecular dynamics simulation) and also of amorphous iron (the evaporated film), and the final quenched state can be considered as a typical model of amorphous pure metals.