title: Metallic liquids and glasses: atomic order and global packing.
abstract: In this Letter, we have revealed the common structural behavior of metallic glasses through scrutinizing the evolution of pair distribution functions from metallic liquids to glasses and statistically analyzing pair distribution functions of 64 metallic glasses. It is found that the complex atomic configuration in metallic glasses can be interpreted globally as a combination of the spherical-periodic order and local translational symmetry. The implications of our study suggest that the glass transition could be visualized mainly as a process involving in local translational symmetry increased from the liquid to glassy states.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: X J
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hui
authors.forename: Z P
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: C T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Liu