Computation of the structure factors of the peculiar metals Sb, Bi, Ga, and Sn using Lebowitz's solution of hard-sphere mixtures

Abstract

The peculiar metals Bi, Sb, Ga, and Sn, which show a subsidary right-hand shoulder in the structure factor at or near the melting point, are studied through Lebowitz's solution of hard-sphere mixtures by assuming the liquids to be a mixture of two types of species of different diameters. The agreement between theoretical and experimental structure factors throughout the whole range of momentum space is excellent. It is found that metalloids like Bi and Sb can be treated as simple hard-sphere mixtures of two different species while in the case of metals like Ga and Sn a square well attractive tail is used as a perturbation of the hard-sphere mixture.