Metallic Glasses

Amit Acharya                       Michael Widom

To appear in Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids

Motivated by results of the topological theory of glasses accounting for geometric frustration,
we develop the simplest possible continuum mechanical model of defect dynamics in metallic
glasses that accounts for topological, energetic, and kinetic ideas. A geometrical description
of ingredients of the structure of metallic glasses using the concept of local order based on
Frank-Kasper phases and the notion of disclinations as topological defects in these structures is
proposed. This novel kinematics is incorporated in a continuum mechanical framework capable
of describing the interactions of disclinations and also of dislocations (interpreted as pairs of
opposite disclinations). The model is aimed towards the development of a microscopic understanding
of the plasticity of such materials. We discuss the expected predictive capabilities of
the model vis-a-vis some observed physical behaviors of metallic glasses.

In order to improve the properties of metallic glasses (MG) a new type of MG structure, composed of nanoscale grains, referred to as nanoglass (NG), has been recently proposed. Here, we use large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of tensile loading to investigate the deformation and failure mechanisms of Cu64Zr36 NG nanopillars with large, experimentally accessible, 50 nm diameter. Our results reveal NG ductility and failure by necking below the average glassy grain size of 20 nm, in contrast to brittle failure by shear band propagation in MG nanopillars.

Xianqi Lei,Yujie Wei, Bingchen Wei, Wei-Hua Wang. Acta Materialia 99, 206-212 (2015). doi:10.1016/j.actamat.2015.08.008

Wellcome comments and suggestions!