Fig. 1: Size-dependent deformation behavior of amorphous metal nanowires.

a A bulk metallic glass (BMG) feedstock is molded into nanocavity arrays under an applied pressure (p) and temperature (T). b The deformation behavior of molded BMGs deviates from the viscous flow model (Eq. (1)). At temperatures T ≥ T_g (the glass transition temperature), the normalized length (\(L/\sqrt{{pt}}\)) exhibits a linear correlation with \(\sqrt{\eta }/d\), where η is the viscosity and d is the molding diameter, indicating a mechanism dominated by viscous flow. However, when T < T_g, the linear correlation is no longer observed, suggesting a different mechanism than viscous flow (Supplementary Note 2, data is from Ni-BMG). c SEM images of molded nanowires used to determine the molding length L in Ni-BMG (Ni₄₅Pd₃₅P₁₆B₄). d L(d) scaling results at a processing temperature T = T_g–20 °C reveal a transition in size-dependent deformation behavior in Ni-BMG. For d > 60 nm, BMG deforms faster with increasing size, whereas the deformation rate decreases with d at d < 60 nm. e, f Similar transition in deformation behavior in Zr-BMG (Zr₄₆Cu₄₆Al₈) and Pd-BMG (Pd₄₃Ni₁₀Cu₂₇P₂₀) at T = T_g–20 °C. Error bars are defined by the standard deviation of more than 10 measurements. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.