A novel medium-range structure in Zr80Pt20 metallic glass

•Dominant short range order in Zr80Pt20 metallic glass is icosahedral cluster.•ICO clusters pack in the Bergman pattern to form Bergman-ICO Medium range order.•Bergman-ICO structure has high degree of five-symmetry order.•Bergman-ICO structure contributes to the high GFA of metallic glasses. What determines the glass forming ability (GFA) remains one of the major unsolved problems in materials science. Despite extensive research attempting to resolve it from the perspective of short range order, the medium range order (MRO) structures are also thought to play an important role in the GFA. In this paper, the MRO of Zr80Pt20 metallic glass (MG) is investigated by molecular dynamics simulation. We find a novel MRO structure, in which the icosahedral clusters packed in the Bergman method, exists in the glass. This MRO cluster, with the size of 1.2–1.4 nm and high degree of five-symmetry order, will contribute to the high GFA of Zr80Pt20 MG.