In recent decades, the development of novel light-weight and high-strength Al-based metal materials, including amorphous alloy and amorphous/nanocrystalline dual-phase alloy, is confronting great challenges. The main reason is that many abnormal phenomena in the preparation of these materials cannot be fully understood and scientifically described, which leads to a large degree of blindness from the composition design to the technology modulation. In this work, we employed molecular dynamics simulation technology to track the microstructure evolution of the Al-based alloy during the rapid cooling process, and found a unique abnormal orderly transformation well above glass transition in the Al-rich side. Supported by a large amount of theoretical data and experimental evidence, we provided an integrated picture of this process from the nature of the physics, which can well explain all the experimental observations. By analogy with the well-known solid solution aging, we scientifically define this process as Liquid Aging for the first time. The proposal of this theory indicates the direction for the further development of new Al-based metal materials, and also provides new ideas for the exploration of other novel materials.

中文翻译：

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Al基合金在过冷状态下的异常有序转变

在最近的几十年中，包括非晶合金和非晶/纳米晶双相合金在内的新型轻质高强度铝基金属材料的开发面临着巨大的挑战。主要原因是无法充分理解和科学描述这些材料的制备过程中的许多异常现象，这导致从成分设计到技术调制的高度盲目性。在这项工作中，我们采用了分子动力学模拟技术来追踪快速冷却过程中铝基合金的微观结构演变，并发现了富铝侧远高于玻璃化转变的独特的异常有序相变。在大量理论数据和实验证据的支持下，我们从物理学的本质上提供了有关此过程的完整图片，可以很好地解释所有实验观察结果。与众所周知的固溶时效相似，我们科学地将此过程首次定义为液体时效。这一理论的提出，为新型铝基金属材料的进一步发展指明了方向，也为其他新型材料的探索提供了新思路。