High energy x-ray scattering studies of the local order in liquid Al.

The x-ray structure factors and densities for liquid aluminum from 1123 K to 1273 K have been measured using the beamline electrostatic levitator. Atomic structures as a function of temperature have been constructed from the diffraction data with reverse Monte Carlo simulations. An analysis of the local atomic structures in terms of the Honeycutt-Andersen indices indicates a high degree of icosahedral and distorted icosahedral order, a modest amount of body-centered cubic order, and marginal amounts of face-centered cubic and hexagonal close-packed order.