THE STRONG INFLUENCE OF SMALL AMOUNTS OF PALLADIUM ON THE STRUCTURE OF LIQUID POTASSIUM-THALLIUM

Neutron diffraction measurements on liquid KT1 alloys with 0, 1, and 5 at% Pd, respectively, show that the prepeak in the structure factor s hifts from wave vector k = 8.0 to 7.2 nm(-1) with an increasing amount of Pd. This corresponds to a periodicity change from 0.96 to 1.07 nm in real space.(2) The structure of the liquid KT1 alloys is compared t o the corresponding crystal structures, and some similarities are obse rved. Reverse Monte Carlo modelling indicates T1 clustering in the liq uid alloy. Also in solid KT1 T1-clusters occur. The distance between t he clusters increases with the addition of 5% Pd, More information is needed to discriminate between various possible structures of the T1 c lusters in the liquid alloy and to determine the position of Pd in the se clusters.