Density and Glass Forming Ability in Amorphous Atomic Alloys: the Role   of the Particle Softness
  A key property of glass forming alloys, the anomalously small volume difference with respect to the crystal, is shown to arise as a direct consequence of the soft repulsive potentials between metals. This feature of the inter-atomic potential is demonstrated to be responsible for a significant component of the glass forming ability of alloys due to the decrease in the enthalpy of fusion and the associated depression of the freezing point. 
Ian Douglass, Toby Hudson and Peter Harrowell
cond-mat.soft cond-mat.dis-nn cond-mat.stat-mech