Neutron Diffraction Investigation of Liquid Li/Ba Alloys

Liquid barium and liquid alloys of the 7Li isotope with 12, 30 and 59 at% Ba were investigated by neutron diffraction in order to get information on the structure of simple liquid binary alloys of which the components differ strongly in size. Using pure liquid Li and Ba as a reference, the structure data of the alloys may quite well be approximated by hard-sphere curves. Significant deviation from hard-sphere behaviour is observed for intermediate distances in r-space and for the long wavelength concentration fluctuations. The value observed for the latter indicate a positive interchange energy for lithium rich alloys.