Fig. 1: Macroscopic and microscopic mechanisms of metallic glass (MG) deformation.
From: Anomalous temperature dependence of elastic limit in metallic glasses
a A Cu64.5Zr35.5 MG configuration (Cu - small atoms; Zr - large atoms) of 5000 atoms. The red arrows indicate the uniaxial loading direction along the y-axis. Atoms are colored according to their von Mises atomic strain magnitude compared to the initial configuration before loading using the OVITO software44. Half of the atoms in the front are removed in order to reveal the shear transformation (ST) event at the center of the simulation box. b A schematic 1D potential energy landscape (PEL) showing α transitions between megabasins and β transitions between smaller basins. c Schematic stress-strain relationship of a typical MG tensile test, showing an irreversible ST event at the elastic limit and coalescence of ST events at the macroscopic yield strength (in the circle). The data in the circle is from the MD simulation of tensile test performed at 20 K. Arrows indicate the loading or unloading direction.
