Abstract: The local atomic symmetry was investigated and discussed for understanding mechanical, vibrational and dynamical properties in metallic glasses. Local five-fold symmetry was defined based on the ratio of pentagons to the total number of faces in a Voronoi cluster analyzed by Voronoi tessellation method. It is found that the plastic deformation prefer to be initiated in the regions with less degree of local five-fold symmetry (LFFS) and propagate gradually toward the region with more degree of LFFS. On the other hand, the local structures having less degree of LFFS contribute more to the soft low-frequency modes, and thus the so-called boson peak, while those with more degree of LFFS participate more in moderate- and high-frequency modes in metallic glasses. The relationship between local atomic symmetry and structural heterogeneity, mechanical heterogeneity, and glass transition was also discussed. It is shown that local atomic symmetry could be a general structural indicator in metallic liquids and glasses for better understanding the structure-property relationship in amorphous alloys.

Key words: Metallic glasses, Atomic symmetry, Deformation, Molecular dynamics