THE STRUCTURE OF MOLTEN BISMUTH-LEAD ALLOYS

In order to extend the efforts to derive an effective pair potential f or liquid metals to more complicated systems, neutron diffraction meas urements of S(Q) for bismuth-lead alloys were performed on the liquid and amorphous diffractometer (LAD) at the Rutherford-Appleton Laborato ry. The measurements were performed for different Bi-Pb compositions a t different temperatures approaching the melting point for each alloy. The main efforts were focused on investigating the variation of the p osition and height of the first peak of the structure factor and its s houlder as a function of composition and temperature. The results sugg est singularity in evolution of the nearest neighbour arrangement when the composition approaches the eutectic point.