THE STRUCTURAL-PROPERTIES OF LIQUID AND QUENCHING SULFUR-II

Neutron diffraction experiments over the momentum transfer range 0 < Q (angstrom)-1 < 40 have been used to investigate the structural proper ties of liquid sulphur from 140-degrees-C up to 300-degrees-C, i.e. fr om conditions near the melting point of sulphur up to temperatures wel l above its lambda-transition (T(lambda) = 159-degrees-C), and to stud y how the structure of sulphur rapidly quenched from different liquid temperatures changes in relation to the corresponding liquid structure . The data have been Fourier transformed to give an accurate pair corr elation function g(r) from which absolute numbers and distances of ato ms in given molecular configurations may be obtained. The results indi cate which molecular bonds are changed in the different solid and liqu id states and shed new light on the lambda-transition from a molecular point of view. In particular we show that the number of nearest neigh bours probably increases with temperature above the lambda transition. The data on g(r) are also interpreted with recent reverse Monte Carlo calculations.