Structural study of local order in quenched lead under high pressures

The local order and defects in glassy lead have been investigated by molecular dynamics simulation. The height of the main peak of pair correlation function at high pressure is found to become higher than that at normal pressure. The position of the first maximum in the PCF exhibits a great inward shift at high pressure. The glass transition temperature increases with the applied high pressure. Both the ideal icosahedra and some varieties of defective icosahedra are detected in glassy lead. High pressure results in the increase of the bond orientational order in glassy Pb. Glassy is in fact an entanglement with a very large number of icosahedra and defective icosahedra which interpenetrate and share faces each other. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.