POLYANIONIC CLUSTERS IN LIQUID ALKALI-LEAD COMPOUNDS

The formation of polyanionic clusters in liquid alloys of the alkali metals with polyvalent metals is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. It is shown that alloying effects in the effective interatomic potentials lead to a strong preferrential interaction between the anions and hence to the formation of polyanionic clusters. We find that the limitation of the mean free path of the electrons arising from the strong disorder scattering has a pronounced influence on the interatomic forces and hence on the structure of the melt. The importance of many-body forces is discussed. © 1990.