Liquid structure of pure iron by X-ray diffraction

The liquid structure of pure iron at 1540, 1560 and 1580℃ was studied by X-ray diffraction. The results show that near the melting point there is a medium-range order structure that fades away with the increasing temperature. The average nearest distance of atoms is almost independent of the melts temperature, but the average coordination number, the atom cluster size and the atom number in an atom cluster all decrease with the increasing temperature of the melt. Near the melting point there area lot of atom clusters in the pure iron melt. The atom cluster of pure iron has the body-centered cubic lattices, which are kept from the solid state. And the body-centered cubic lattices connect into network by occupying a same edge. The atoms in the surrounding of the atom clusters are arranged disorderly.