ELASTIC INSTABILITY OF CRYSTALS CAUSED BY STATIC ATOM DISPLACEMENT - A MECHANISM FOR SOLID-STATE AMORPHIZATION

During the solid-state amorphization process, there have been a number of observations showing a large lattice dilatation and softening of shear elastic constants. Based on these reports, the amorphization mechanism was modeled by introducing static displacement of atoms that caused lattice strain. The calculation indicated that a crystalline structure became unstable at a critical strain value. Qualitative agreement was obtained between the calculated and experimental values of the changes in the shear elastic constant and the lattice parameter at the instability point.