The Structure of Molten Nickel-Phosphorus Alloys

Abstract Detailed analyses of the x-ray scattering intensities of molten nickel-phosphorus alloys ranging from 0 to 30 at.% phosphorus have been carried out. The three partial structures required to characterize the binary alloys have been estimated. The interatomic distance of P -P pairs was found to be about 3.2 Å, and thus phosphorus atoms cannot exist as nearest neighbours in molten Ni-P alloys, at least within the present experimental composition range. It was confirmed that this arrangement of atoms contributed to the characterisic structure in which the expansion of the Ni -Ni distance was unavoidable. Calculations have also been carried out in terms of the dense random-packing model of binary spheres. The calculations were consistent with the experimental results.