Phonon dispersion in bulk metallic glass Zr55Cu30Al10Ni15

Abstract The expressions for the phonon frequencies of Zr55Cu30Al10Ni15 bulk metallic glass employing a simple model given by Bhatia and Singh for a hypothetical one-component metallic glass are derived both for longitudinal and transverse modes of excitations. The model assumes a central force, effective between the nearest neighbours, and a volume dependent force. Both types of excitations of phonons are computed for the Zr55Cu30Al10Ni15 bulk metallic glass for the first time both for self-consistent screening of conduction electrons with and without the inclusion of correlation effects. Phonon frequency expressions reproduce the main characteristic features of the dispersion curves. The theoretical results predicted are in a good agreement with available experimental data of different quaternary bulk metallic glasses having same constituents. These are also compared to the theoretical results of a quaternary glass to have an insight of the structural behavior of the glass under consideration.