Measurement and simulation of specific heat for metastable liquid Ni ₈₀Fe ₁₀Cu ₁₀ alloy

The specific heat of undercooled liquid Ni ₈₀Fe ₁₀Cu ₁₀ alloy was experimentally measured by electromagnetic levitation drop calorimeter, and also numerically simulated by the molecular dynamics method. The achieved maximum undercooling is up to 252 K (0.15 T _L) in the experiments, and the measured result is 41.67 Jmol ^-1K ^-1. The simulation provides calculated data within 0∼702 K undercooling range, which is much broader than the experimental regime. The simulated value is 37.02 Jmol ^-1K ^-1. Although there exists a difference of 4.65 Jmol ^-1K ^-1 between them, the result is quite acceptable for simulation. Furthermore, the liquid structure of undercooled Ni ₈₀Fe ₁₀Cu ₁₀ alloy is studied in terms of the total and partial pair distribution functions, which display that the ordered degree of atoms enhances from a normal liquid to metastable state.