Temperature dependence of the short-range order of Cu65Zr35 metallic glass

The thermal behaviour of the short-range order of Cu65Zr35 metallic glass has been investigated by means of in situ high energy synchrotron X-ray diffraction. The temperature dependence of the X-ray structure factor and the atomic pair correlation function was analysed within the glassy state. In addition to the effect of volume expansion and thermal atomic oscillations changes occur in the short-range order. Local atomic rearrangements take place as a consequence of the structural heterogeneity in the glass. The structural transformations depend linearly on temperature. The changes of the short-range order of the glass by thermal expansion are found to be different from those under elastic tensile strain.