GLASS-FORMATION AND LOCAL DISORDER - AMORPHIZATION IN PLANAR CLUSTERS

Structural aspects of amorphization in a cluster model of a disordered phase are presented. Molecular dynamics simulations were done within a ''mobile cluster static boundary'' model, in which static, disordere d particles at the boundary of the simulation cell cause particles wit hin the cell to adjust themselves structurally. With sufficient bounda ry disorder, both the radial distribution function and the orientation al order parameter show onset of amorphization behavior. For Lennard-J ones particles, which are not good glass formers, the amorphization oc curs only within a certain healing distance of the disordered boundary . With increasing boundary disorder, the orientational correlation fun ction and the radial distribution function indeed show orientational p hase scrambling, disappearance of long-range order, and the onset of g lass-like amorphized structure. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics . [S0021-9606(98)51242-1].