Predicting macroscopic thermal expansion of metastable liquid metals with only one thousand atoms

Results of thermal expansion prediction from atomic scale for metastable liquid metals are reported herein. Three pure liquid metals Ni, Fe, and Cu together with ternary Ni₆₀Fe₂₀Cu₂₀ alloy are used as models. The pair distribution functions were employed to monitor the atomic structure. This indicates that the simulated systems are ordered in atomic short range and disordered in long range. The thermal expansion coefficient was computed as functions of temperature and atom cutoff radius, which tends to maintain a constant when the cutoff radius increases to approximately 15 Å. In such a case, slightly more than 1000 atoms are required for liquid Ni, Cu, Fe and Ni₆₀Fe₂₀Cu₂₀ alloy, that is, the macroscopic thermal expansion can be predicted from the volume change of such a tiny cell. Furthermore, the expansion behaviors of the three types of atoms in liquid Ni₆₀Fe₂₀Cu₂₀ alloy are revealed by the calculated partial expansion coefficient. This provides a fundamental method to predict the macroscopic thermal expansion from the atomic scale for liquid alloys, especially in the undercooled regime.