Effect of dissimilar and similar element substitution on solidification of Zr-Cu metallic glass liquid

The effects of dissimilar and similar element substitution on atomic structure and dynamics of Zr-Cu metallic glass liquid were studied by molecular dynamics simulation. The five-fold local symmetry, average of cluster size, average of cluster time, self-diffusion coefficient and shear viscosity were used to character the atomic structure and dynamics. With the dissimilar element substitution, the local structure and dynamics obviously change, resulting in the improvement of glassforming ability. The change of atomic structure is small after the similar element substitution. Therefore, the outstanding variation of dynamics enhances the glass-forming ability induced by similar element substitution.