Structural defects in amorphous solids A computer simulation study

Abstract A definition of structural defects in amorphous solids in terms of the distribution of the internal stresses on the atomic level and of the symmetry of the environment of individual atoms is introduced. This definition does not require an ideal reference structure. The concept of the internal stresses on the atomic scale has been previously applied to describe the core structure of crystalline dislocations. In this paper it has been applied to the model amorphous structure generated by a computer simulation. It was found that there is a significant variation in the magnitude and direction of internal stresses, and that there are regions of 10 to 20 atoms over which the stresses remain either high or low. A method of calculating the symmetry coefficients at atomic sites has been proposed, and applied to the same system. It has been shown that there are significant correlations between the internal stresses and the local symmetry. The low-stress, high-symmetry regions resemble microcrystalline clusters, while the high-stress, low-symmetry regions show a stress-distribution pattern and symmetry similar to the crystalline defects. The structural defects in amorphous structures are defined as the latter regions, and the significance of such a definition in elucidating the properties of amorphous solids is discussed.