New regime of homogeneous flow in the deformation map of metallic glasses: elevated temperature nanoindentation experiments and mechanistic modeling

The character of plastic deformation in metallic glasses is investigated through instrumented nanoindentation experiments on amorphous Pd₄₀Ni₄₀P₂₀ and Mg₆₅Cu₂₅Gd₁₀. Using a customized experimental apparatus, nanoindentation experiments have been conducted over four decades of indentation strain rate and from ambient temperature up to the glass transition, allowing rapid evaluation of an extensive deformation map with only small volumes of experimental material. At low rates and temperatures, inhomogeneous or serrated flow is observed, owing to the discrete operation of individual shear bands. Two distinct regimes of homogeneous flow can be identified. The first, expected, regime of homogeneous flow corresponds to the onset of viscous deformation at high temperatures and low rates, and is well described by existing mechanistic models. The second homogeneous regime occurs at high deformation rates even well below the glass transition, and arises when deformation rates exceed the characteristic rate for shear band nucleation, kinetically forcing strain distribution. By extending an existing model for glass deformation to explore shear band nucleation kinetics, this second regime is quantitatively rationalized and the natural frequency for shear band nucleation is extracted from the data. From this analysis the critical radius of a shear band as it transitions from nucleation to propagation is estimated to be in the submicron range.     

Strain rate-dependent deformation in bulk metallic glasses

Metallic glasses have metastable structures. As a result, their plastic deformation is dependent upon structural dynamics. In the present paper, we present data obtained from Zr-base and La-base metallic glasses and discuss the kinetic aspects of plastic deformation, including both homogeneous and heterogeneous deformation. In the case of homogeneous deformation (typically occurring in the supercooled liquid region), Newtonian behavior is not universally observed and usually takes place only at low strain rates. At high strain rates, non-Newtonian behavior is usually observed. It is demonstrated that this non-Newtonian behavior is associated with in situ crystallization of the amorphous structure. In the case of heterogeneous deformation (occurring at room temperature), deformation is controlled by localized shear banding. The plastic deformation of a La-base metallic glass is also investigated using instrumented nanoindentation experiments over a broad range of indentation strain rates. At low rates, the load-displacement curves during indentation exhibit numerous serrations or pop-ins, but these serrations become less prominent as the indentation rate is increased. Using the tip velocity during pop-in as a gauge of serration activity, we find that serrated flow is only significant at indentation strain rates below a certain critical value.     

纳米压入下镁基非晶合金的间歇性塑性流动

镁基非晶合金通常表现出显著的宏观脆性,因此用常规拉伸、压缩等方法对该合金的变形行为进行研究具有很大困难。本研究利用具有高时间分辨率和高空间分辨率的纳米压痕技术观察了不同加载速率下镁基非晶合金的锯齿流变行为。结果表明,低加载速率促进锯齿的形成,而高加载速率则抑制锯齿的形成。其原因是在低加载速率下,单一剪切带足以耗散外加应变;而在高加载速率条件下,由于单一剪切带不能将应变耗散掉,因此需要更多的剪切带参与变形。为了进一步解释这一锯齿流变行为,本研究采用遍历处理对每个锯齿的应变突变进行了统计分析。结果表明,在不同的加载速率下,小的应变突变服从幂律分布,且幂指数为1．45;而大的应变突变则呈现指数衰减规律。最后,借助硬度对应变速率的敏感性,估算了镁基非晶合金在纳米压人条件下剪切转变区的体积,为4．5nm^3。     

Micromechanisms of serrated flow in a Ni50Pd30P20 bulk metallic glass with a large compression plasticity

Serrated flow is a characteristic feature of plastic deformation of bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) with a large compression strain. However, the underlying mechanisms of the discrete plasticity in the disordered solids have been debated for many years. Here, we report mechanical behavior and microstructural evolution of a Ni₅₀Pd₃₀P₂₀ BMG subjected to uniaxial compression testing. Extensive nanocrystallization within shear bands and in the vicinity of fracture surfaces was observed and various crystal defects, including dislocations, twins and kink bands, were detected in the resultant nanocrystals. These observations suggest a microscopic mechanism of the serrated flow of the BMG, i.e. the stress drop is caused by local strain-softening and the arrest of shear bands is associated with in situ nanocrystallization.     

Effect of loading rate on the serrated flow of a bulk metallic glass during nanoindentation

The nature of displacement burst features throughout the load-controlled instrumented indentation of a Mg₆₅Cu₂₅Y₁₀ bulk metallic glass was investigated over four decades of loading rate with varying peak loads and tip geometry. Where observed in the load–displacement data, displacement burst frequency, size and duration were found to be inversely related to loading rate, despite hardness and stiffness being independent of this parameter. Based on this evidence, it is proposed that increasing the loading rate during nanoindentation does not change the mechanism of deformation from serrated flow via shear banding to smooth plastic flow but is a result of the inability to resolve the length of displacement bursts at high loading rates. A displacement burst model is proposed that was found to successfully fit the experimental data for the investigated range of loading rates.     

Mechanical modelling of indentation-induced densification in amorphous silica

Despite their brittleness, silicate glasses undergo plastic deformation at the microscopic scale. Mechanical contact and indentation are the most common situations of interest. The plasticity of glasses is characterized not only by shear flow but also by a permanent densification process. After indentation, densification can locally reach 20% in a pure silica glass. In this paper, a new constitutive model, derived from experimental observations, is presented to account for the plasticity of fused silica. The use of nanoindentation tests to identify the plastic behaviour of amorphous silica is discussed. A set of material properties is determined by comparing experimental load–displacement indentation curves to the results of finite element simulations. The numerical results show good agreement with recent experimental indentation-induced densification maps obtained by Perriot et al. [Perriot A, Vandembroucq D, Barthel E, Martinez V, Grosvalet L, Martinet Ch, et al. J Am Ceram Soc 2006;89:596].     

The characterization of plastic deformation in Ce-based bulk metallic glasses

The plastic deformation behavior of Ce₆₈Al₁₀Cu₂₀Nb₂ and Ce₇₀Al₁₀Cu₂₀ bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) at room temperature was studied by depth-sensing nanoindentation and microindentation. It is shown that the two BMGs exhibit a continuous plastic deformation without distinct serration at the all of the studied loading rates during nanoindentation. An obvious creep displacement was observed during the holding-load segment at the maximum load for the two alloys, and the magnitude of creep during holding-load increases with loading rate. The subsurface plastic deformation zone of the two BMGs after indentation at various loading rates was investigated through bonded interface technique using depth-sensing microindentation. A highly developed shear banding pattern can be observed in the plastic deformation region, though the global load–depth curves illuminate a “homogeneous flow”. The plastic deformation behavior of the Ce-based BMGs during indentation measurements is discussed in terms of localized viscous flow.     

Serrated flow and stick–slip deformation dynamics in the presence of shear-band interactions for a Zr-based metallic glass

In this paper, shear-band interactions (SBIs) were introduced by a simple method and their effect on the dynamics of shear bands and serrated flow was studied for a Zr-based metallic glass. Statistical analysis on serrations shows that the stick–slip dynamics of interacting shear bands is a complex, scale-free process, in which shear bands are highly correlated. Both the stress drop magnitude and the incubation time for serrations follow a power-law distribution, presenting a sharp contrast to the randomly generated, uncorrelated serrated flow events in the absence of SBIs. Observations on the fracture morphologies provide further evidence and insights into the deformation dynamics dominated by SBIs. A stick–slip model for multiple shear bands with interactions is also proposed and numerically calculated. The results, in good agreement with the experimental results, quantitatively show how multiple shear bands operate and correlate, especially for those with large serrated flow events. Our studies suggest that one serration in the stress–strain curve may correspond to collective stick–slip motions of multiple shear bands for those ductile bulk metallic glasses where a large number of shear bands are observed during deformation.     

Effects of nanocrystalline and ultrafine grain sizes on constitutive behavior and shear bands in iron

The mechanical behaviors of consolidated iron with average grain sizes from tens of nanometers to tens of microns have been systematically studied under uniaxial compression over a wide range of strain rates. In addition to the well-known strengthening due to grain size refinement, grain size dependence is observed for several other key properties of plastic deformation. In contrast with conventional coarse-grained Fe, high-strength nanocrystalline and submicron-grained Fe exhibit diminished effective strain rate sensitivity of the flow stress. The observed reduction in effective rate sensitivity is shown to be a natural consequence of low-temperature plastic deformation mechanisms in bcc metals through the application of a constitutive model for the behavior of bcc Fe in this strain rate and temperature regime. The deformation mode also changes, with shear localization replacing uniform deformation as the dominant deformation mode from the onset of plastic deformation at both low and high strain rates. The evolution and multiplication of shear bands have been monitored as a function of plastic strain. The grain size dependence is discussed with respect to possible enhanced propensity for plastic instabilities at small grain sizes.     

Effect of Strain Rate on Deformation Behavior of AlCoCrFeNi High-Entropy Alloy by Nanoindentation

In this study, nanoindentation tests with continuous stiffness measurement technique were measured to investigate the deformation behavior of a high-entropy alloy AlCoCrFeNi under different indentation strain rates at room temperature. Results suggest that the creep behavior exhibits remarkable strain rate dependence. In-situ scanning images showed a conspicuous pileup around the indents, indicating that an extremely localized plastic deformation occurred during the nanoindentation. Under different strain rates, elastic modulus basically remains unchanged, while the hardness decreases with increasing indentation depth due to the indentation size effect. Furthermore, the modulus and hardness of AlCoCrFeNi HEAs are greater than that of the Al _x CoCrFeNi (x = 0.3,0.5) at the strain rate of 0.2 s^?1 due to its higher negative enthalpy of mixing related to the atomic binding force, and the solid solution strengthening induced by the lattice distortion, respectively.     

块体非晶合金绝热升温与锯齿流变机制

对Zr41．2Ti13．8Ni10Cu12．5Be22．5块体非晶合金压缩条件下的力学行为进行了研究,利用应变能理论,以面积比(As／A)为参量,计算出了流变过程中剪切带形成时变形区域的温度,变化规律结果表明：随着变形的增大,弹性应变能增加,形成剪切带时的温度逐渐升高,当剪切带面积比As／A值小于1／4时,升高的温度将达到或超过玻璃转变温度,导致变形区域粘度降低,从而促进剪切带继续扩展并导致最终断裂．此局部温度变化规律揭示了块体非晶合金锯齿流变直至断裂的机制．     

金属玻璃中取决于加载速率的非均匀蠕变行为

大块金属玻璃中的蠕变变形可分为均匀流动和非均匀流动.为了理解两种蠕变变形的转化条件,使用纳米压痕试验和分子动力学模拟研究加载速率对Ti40Zr10Cu47Sn3(摩尔分数,％)大块金属玻璃室温蠕变行为的影响.结果发现,在低加载速率下,加载阶段出现很多的锯齿流动,导致蠕变阶段出现非均匀的锯齿流动;而当加载速率足够高时,蠕...     

纳米压痕形变过程的分子动力学模拟

根据EAM多体势,利用分子动力学方法模拟了Ni压头压入Al基体的纳米压痕全过程．包括压头接近和离开基体时的原子组态;压入和上升时的载荷一位移曲线以及位错的发射和形变带的产生和变化;同时模拟了纳米尺度的应力弛豫行为．结果表明,当压头尚未接触基体时就能吸引基体原子,通过缩颈而互相连接．当压入应力Ts为1．9MPa时,基体Al开始发射位错;当分切应力Td=6．4MPa时,出现形变带．压头上升过程出现反向的拉应力,使基体反向屈服,在卸载过程中基体残留位错的组态不断改变．当压头上升离开基体后能拉着基体通过缩颈而相连,当压头和基体分离后仍粘有基体原子．在纳米尺度也存在应力弛豫现象,其原因是热激活引起的位错发射和运动．     

Microstructure and properties that change during hard cyclic visco-plastic deformation of bulk high purity niobium

The effect of strain amplitude and strain rate on the microstructure and the properties that change during hard cyclic visco-plastic deformation of bulk niobium of high purity at room temperature are systematically measured. These changes in the refractory metal niobium were studied at different tension-compression strain amplitudes (up to Ɛ = ±2%) and strain rates (up to έ (t) = 0.4 s⁻¹) during hard cyclic visco-plastic deformation in dependence on von Mises strain (up to Ɛ_vM = 13.8) during the equal channel angular pressing, respectively. The pure Nb was specified with respect to microstructure, micromechanical properties, density, gas content, tensile strength, Young's modulus, viability and fracture mechanics at fatigue failure for use in industry. The micro hardness and the indentation modulus of the nanostructured shear bands were significantly higher, but the plasticity was lower than that of the body metal between the shear bands. The decreasing Young's modulus (when increasing the strain rate) is related to the fatigue failure of the niobium during the tension-compression cycling and shows nucleation and thickening of the shear bands, as well as the changes in grain boundaries in the pre-fracture state.     

块状非晶合金纳米压痕微区形变的研究

对Zr55A110Ni5Cu30块状非晶合金进行了室温纳米压痕实验，利用扫描电子显微镜、透射电子显微镜揭示了非晶合金的微区形变特征。结果表明：在压痕周围形成离散的剪切带，形变引起了块状非晶合金局部自由体积增加。利用自由体积模型对非晶合金的微区形变机制进行了分析。     

Room-temperature flow in a metallic glass - Strain-rate dependence of shear-band behavior

The rate dependence of serrated flow in amorphous Al_86.8Ni_3.7Y_9.5 has been investigated by nanoindentation. Three samples, containing different initial amounts and distributions of free volume, were used: as quenched, cold rolled and annealed below the crystallization temperature. When the cold-rolled sample is indented at low rates, no new shear bands form, and stable, time-dependent, flow takes place at pre-existing shear bands, well below the glass transition temperature. Aside from instrumental resolution, factors that likely affect serrated flow include the magnitude of the yield drop and the shear-band propagation velocity. The trends we observe are compared with calculations based on the free-volume theory.     

Study of serrated flow and plastic deformation in metallic glasses through instrumented indentation

The plastic deformation behavior and serrated flow in seven bulk metallic glass (BMG) systems were investigated through instrumented indentation. These materials include Ce₆₅Al₁₀Ni₁₀Cu₁₀Nb₅, Mg₆₅Cu₂₅Gd₁₀, Pd₄₃Ni₁₀Cu₂₇P₂₀, Cu₆₀Zr₂₀Hf₁₀Ti₁₀, Pt_57.5Cu_14.7Ni_5.3P_22.5, Ni₆₀Nb₃₇Sn₃ and Fe₄₃Cr₁₆Mo₁₆C₁₅B₁₀ BMGs, which show a glass transition temperature (T_g) ranging from 360 to 908 K at a heating rate of 0.33 K/s. Remarkable difference in deformation behavior was found among these BMGs in the load–depth curves during nanoindentation. Prominent serrations are observed in Mg-, Pt- and Pd-based BMGs with medium T_g during the loading process, whereas no distinct serrated flow was found in Ce-, Ni- and Fe-based BMGs with quite low or high T_g. The subsurface plastic deformation regions after indentation were investigated using depth-sensing microindentation to characterize the shear band feature developed in various BMG systems. The size of the shear band upset is found to be larger in the alloys with lower T_g. The effect of T_g on the operation of shear bands and the serrated flow behavior in various BMG systems were discussed.     

Zr基块体金属玻璃蠕变行为的纳米压痕研究

在本工作中,通过纳米压痕实验研究了加载速率和保载时间对(Zr0.6336Cu0.1452Ni0.1012Al0.12)97.4Er2.6块体金属玻璃（BMG）的蠕变变形行为的影响。实验结果表明,合金试样的蠕变位移随着加载速率或保载时间的增加而增大。另一方面,合金样品的硬度（H）也随着加载速率或保载时间的增加而降低。合金试样在纳米压痕过程中具有尺寸效应,合金试样的硬度随着压痕深度的增加而降低。合金试样在纳米压痕过程中具有锯齿流动现象,并且该现象具有速率依赖性。具体而言,随着加载速率的减小,锯齿流动现象更加明显。合金试样的蠕变应力指数随着加载速率或保载时间的增加而减小。     

应变速率对锆合金塑性变形机制的影响

通过控制应变水平,采用热模拟准静态压缩和霍普金森压杆高应变速率压缩相结合的技术,实现了锆合金不同应变速率条件下的塑性变形。结果表明:锆合金准静态压缩和高应变速率压缩的主要区别在于变形后期。准静态压缩时,位错在晶粒内部塞积成为锆合金塑性变形的主要方式,导致基体晶粒内部累积取向差逐渐增加;而高应变速率压缩时,剪切带成为锆合金塑性变形的主要方式。剪切带塑性变形方式的出现,部分协调了锆合金的塑性变形,导致基体晶粒内部累积取向差较低。