Fig. 1. GFA and crystallization thermodynamics.

(A) Fraction of the crystalline atoms of the solid phase, f(S_ij), obtained upon cooling for various Rs. The filled symbols are the data obtained from MD simulations, whereas the open symbols represent the experimental data for CuZr. The gray stars locate R_c for each material estimated from the criterion of f(S_ij) = 0.5. The lines are fits to the data. (B) Free-energy profiles of CuZr liquids with respect to the collective variable Q_6v at different temperatures. (C) Temperature dependence of the thermodynamic driving force scaled by the thermal energy for crystallization per particle, βΔμ_{L → S}. (D) Thermal energy–scaled free-energy barriers for the liquid-to-crystal transformation, $\mathrm{\beta }\mathrm{\Delta }{\mathrm{\mu }}_{\mathrm{L}\to \mathrm{S}}^{\text{barrier}}$, measured from the corresponding free-energy profiles. (E) Free-energy profiles of NiAl and Zr at T_m with the presence of planar crystal/liquid interfaces (A, the interface area). The blue stars indicate the position of the corresponding free energy of the equilibrium liquid phase.