On the non-commutative two level model for metallic glasses

The electronic lifetime is calculated for a metallic glass considering a general interaction between electrons and the two level system. It is shown that in the leading logarithmic approximation logarithmic terms occur only if at least two of the coupling parameters do not commute in the momentum space. The first contribution is proportional to the square of the logarithm which results in an increase of the decay rate as the temperature is lowered.     

On the structural stability of metallic glasses

We discuss the various possibilities advanced to account for the structural stability of metallic glasses. Using a formalism based on the pseudopotential theory and the Gibbs-Bogoliubov inequality we calculate the free energies and free energies of formation for the glassy phase of MgCa at various concentrations and compare these results with those for the corresponding solid and liquid phases of the same system. Subsequently, we attempt to explain the stability of the metallic glasses by noting a matching between the positions of the first peakq _m in the relevant structure factor and the maximumq _s in the relevant screened pseudopotential.The major part of this work was done in the H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TL, England     

Second virial coefficient and mechanical moduli of metallic glasses

The relationship between the bulk, shear moduli and second virial coefficient of amorphous materials is derived according to their dependences with the radial distribution function. Lennard-Jones–Gaussian potential is used to investigate the relationship between second virial coefficient and temperature, where Lennard-Jones potential represents interactions with the nearest neighbor atoms, and Gaussian potential is responsible for the multi-atom interactions including the next nearest neighbor atoms and heterogeneous structures for a metallic glass. The results show that deep potential well formed by Gaussian potential causes a large second virial coefficient at low temperatures, which is very obvious for the larger fragility glasses. The quadratic form relationship of shear modulus and compositions is proposed, and confirmed by the experimental results of Pd_xNi_100−x−20P₂₀ alloy.     

非晶塑性变形机理研究新进展

非晶合金的塑性变形机理一直是材料科学和凝聚态物理研究的热点问题之一.文章简单介绍了近来中国科学院物理研究所在非晶合金塑性机理研究方面的最新进展,介绍了玻璃转变和塑性变形机制之间的关联性及最新的实验证据,以及从非平衡态统计力学角度对非晶塑性变形机制的理解,指出非晶合金的塑性和剪切带的动力学状态密切相关,发现韧性非晶合金在变形过程中可以演化到自组织临界状态.这对认识非晶合金的形成本质,探索具有实际应用价值的非晶合金具有重要意义.     

非晶塑性变形机理研究新进展

非晶合金的塑性变形机理一直是材料科学和凝聚态物理研究的热点问题之一.文章简单介绍了近来中国科学院物理研究所在非晶合金塑性机理研究方面的最新进展,介绍了玻璃转变和塑性变形机制之间的关联性及最新的实验证据,以及从非平衡态统计力学角度对非晶塑性变形机制的理解,指出非晶合金的塑性和剪切带的动力学状态密切相关,发现韧性非晶合金在变形过程中可以演化到自组织临界状态.这对认识非晶合金的形成本质,探索具有实际应用价值的非晶合金具有重要意义.     

On the nature of the Kaiser effect in metallic glasses

The Kaiser effect was observed in the measurement of acoustic emission (AE) during the course of uniaxial compression of the bulk samples of metallic glasses Zr₄₁Ti₁₄Cu_12.5Ni₁₀Be_22.5 and Zr_52.5Ti₅Cu_17.9Ni_14.6Be_22.5. The field-ion microscopy study of bulk Zr₄₁Ti₁₄Cu_12.5Ni₁₀Be_22.5 shows that this glass has a polycluster structure. This fact allows one to reveal the nature of AE appearing during the course of deformation of metallic glasses and to interpret the observed Kaiser effect. The dislocations generated at the intercluster boundaries and moving through the glass bulk are the sources of AE.     

Formation of different surface reliefs of metallic glasses under mechanical stress

The micro- and nanoreliefs of loaded lateral surfaces and fracture surfaces of foils of the Fe₇₇Ni₁Si₉B₁₃, Fe₅₈Ni₂₀Si₉B₁₃, and Fe₇₀Cr₁₅B₁₅ amorphous alloys have been investigated using scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopy. The isotropic and anisotropic surface reliefs have been examined. The fractal dimensions of the surfaces of loaded specimens and the fracture surfaces along and across the direction of crack propagation have been estimated using the box counting method. Fractal characteristics of the surfaces, such as the Hölder exponent and the half-width of the singularity spectrum, have been calculated using the wavelet transform method. It has been found that, on the topographies with a clearly pronounced anisotropy of the relief, the surface is fractal in only one direction, and the surface is fractal in two directions on the topographies with a less pronounced anisotropy of the relief. The fractal characteristics of the lateral surfaces and the fracture surfaces with allowance made for their anisotropy have close values. It has been shown that the formation of two types of fracture surfaces is adequately described in terms of the model of a cellular automaton.     

块体金属玻璃

在2013年2月出版的Physics Today杂志上刊登了耶鲁大学Jan Schroers教授撰写的题为《块体金属玻璃》的文章,重点介绍了块体金属玻璃优异的类似塑料一样的加工变形能力,并且对未来金属玻璃材料的研究和应用进行了展望. 制备一块金属玻璃就像与一个热力学的时钟赛跑一样.当金属液体冷却到熔点TM以下时,这个时钟开始活动.     

Microstructure of fragile metallic glasses inferred from ultrasound-accelerated crystallization in Pd-based metallic glasses

By utilizing ultrasonic annealing at a temperature below (or near) the glass transition temperature Tg, we revealed a microstructural pattern of a partially crystallized Pd-based metallic glass with a high-resolution electron microscopy. On the basis of the observed microstructure, we inferred a plausible microstructural model of fragile metallic glasses composed of strongly bonded regions surrounded by weakly bonded regions (WBRs). The crystallization in WBRs at such a low temperature under the ultrasonic vibrations is caused by accumulation of atomic jumps associated with the beta relaxation being resonant with the ultrasonic strains. This microstructural model successfully illustrates a marked increase of elasticity after crystallization with a small density change and a correlation between the fragility of the liquid and the Poisson ratio of the solid.     

Effects of the laser surface treatment on the mechanical properties of CuZr-based bulk metallic glasses

Surfaces of three types of CuZr-based bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) were modified by laser surface treatment (LST), and the influence of the treatment on structure and mechanical properties of these alloys was investigated. The phase structure of as-cast and laser-treated samples was characterized by XRD and the morphology of the alloys after fracture was examined by SEM. The compressive plasticity of treated Cu47.5Zr47.5Al5 and Cu46.5Zr47.5Al5Co1 BMGs can be improved from 0.5% to 2.0% and from 1.2% to 5.7% respectively compared with the as-cast ones, while (Cu0.55Zr0.40Al0.05)99Er1 BMG shows insignificant change of plasticity. The improvement in plasticity is attributed to induced crystallization of B2 CuZr phase in the treated surface zone of selected metallic glasses.     

金属玻璃的稳定性

玻璃态材料自诞生以来一直受到自身稳定性的困扰。为了保障玻璃的服役安全性,人们一直努力提高玻璃的耐久性和稳定性。玻璃能否经年累月地保持长期稳定？影响其稳定性的物理机制和根源是什么？这些都是非晶态物理领域长期关注的重要难题。根据以往对非晶合金稳定性的研究结果,文章将简单介绍玻璃亚稳性的起源,然后介绍玻璃如何能够保持长期稳定,如何提高玻璃的热力学和动力学稳定性以制备出超稳玻璃,最后介绍影响玻璃稳定性的材料因素,用于指导有效地获得高稳定性玻璃。对玻璃稳定性的认识和理解,既能够保障玻璃材料服役过程中的安全性,又对认识过冷液体和玻璃转变等基本物理问题非常关键。     

Preferred clusters in metallic glasses

In this work,we present a feasible scheme based on framework of the sophisticated Voronoi tessellation method in order to evaluate what clusters should be preferred for building blocks in any given metallic glass,by analysing the fivefold-symmetry axes as well as the degree of structural regularity in various clusters.This scheme is well proved by a group of experiments and calculations,which may have broad implications for exploration of obtaining explicit and proper structural pictures,and understanding the structural origin of the unique properties and glass forming ability in these novel amorphous alloys.     

High-frequency dynamics in metallic glasses

Using inelastic x-ray scattering we studied the collective dynamics of the glassy alloy Ni33Zr67 in the first pseudo-Brillouin-zone, an energy-momentum region still unexplored in metallic glasses. We determine key properties such as the momentum transfer dependence of the sound velocity and of the acoustic damping, discussing the results in the general context of recently proposed pictures for acoustic dynamics in glasses. Specifically, we demonstrate the existence in this strong glass of well defined (in the Ioffe-Regel sense) acoustic-like excitations well above the boson peak energy.     

Elastic heterogeneity in metallic glasses

When a stress is applied on a metallic glass it deforms following Hook's law. Therefore it may appear obvious that a metallic glass deforms elastically. Using x-ray diffraction and anisotropic pair-density function analysis we show that only about 3/4 in volume fraction of metallic glasses deforms elastically, whereas the rest of the volume is anelastic and in the experimental time scale deform without resistance. We suggest that this anelastic portion represents residual liquidity in the glassy state. Many theories, such as the free-volume theory, assume the density of defects in the glassy state to be of the order of 1%, but this result shows that it is as much as a quarter.     

Itinerant magnetism in metallic glasses

It is argued that when a ferromagnetic transition metal T (e.g. Fe) is mixed with a metalloid M to form a metallic glass (having a narrow band of conduction electrons) the competing effects of the 3-d intra-atomic Coulomb repulsion and of the interaction between conduction and d-electrons make the magnetic moment of T-atoms to vanish when the concentration x of T-atoms is smaller than a critical concentration x_c. Experimental data for the magnetic moment of iron atoms in Fe_xB_1-x is analyzed along this line and a satisfactory fit is obtained. Inclusion of structural as well as compositional disorder effects could result in a better agreement between theory and experiment.     

Temperature dependence of mechanical properties and pressure sensitivity in metallic glasses below glass transition

An experimental investigation into the variation of the mechanical properties (yield stress, yield strain, elastic moduli, hardness) from sub-ambient temperature (77 K) to that just below the glass transition temperature, of different bulk metallic glasses was conducted. Particular emphasis was on the constraint factor, the ratio of hardness to compressive yield stress, which is taken to be the proxy for the temperature dependence of pressure sensitive plastic flow. All the mechanical properties, except the constraint factor, decrease linearly, throughout the temperature range examined, with temperature and when normalized exhibit certain universal tendencies. The constraint factor was found to increase, monotonically but not necessarily linearly, with temperature. Finite element analyses, with pressure dependent constitutive behaviour, were performed in order to extract pressure sensitivity from the indentation load-displacement curves reported by Schuh et al. in 2004. This, in turn, was used to predict the variation of constraint factor with temperature. A good correlation suggests that the increase in constraint factor with temperature is indeed associated with enhanced pressure sensitivity.     

LaGa-based bulk metallic glasses

We report the formation of La Ga-based bulk metallic glasses. Ternary La–Ga–Cu glassy rods of 2–3 mm in diameter can be easily formed in a wide composition range by the conventional copper mold casting method. With minor addition of extra elements such as Co, Ni, Fe, Nb, Y, and Zr, the critical diameter of the full glassy rods of the La–Ga–Cu matrix can be markedly enhanced to at least 5 mm. The characteristics and properties of these new La Ga-based bulk metallic glasses with excellent glass formation ability and low glass transition temperature are model systems for fundamental issues investigation and could have some potential applications in micromachining field.     

探索塑性金属玻璃

缺乏室温宏观塑性是限制金属玻璃应用,制约金属玻璃形变机理研究的主要障碍,因此探索具有室温宏观塑性的金属玻璃材料成为金属玻璃研究领域的热点.文章首先介绍了作者为提高金属玻璃室温塑性所采用的三种在实践中可行的方法,然后根据金属玻璃的弹性模量(泊松比)与塑性的关系,报道了作者在设计大塑性金属玻璃材料方面的最新进展.     

探索塑性金属玻璃

缺乏室温宏观塑性是限制金属玻璃应用,制约金属玻璃形变机理研究的主要障碍,因此探索具有室温宏观塑性的金属玻璃材料成为金属玻璃研究领域的热点.文章首先介绍了作者为提高金属玻璃室温塑性所采用的三种在实践中可行的方法,然后根据金属玻璃的弹性模量（泊松比）与塑性的关系,报道了作者在设计大塑性金属玻璃材料方面的最新进展.     

On the nature of low-temperature anomalies of the anelastic properties of metallic glasses

In Memory of A. M. Roshchupkin The low-temperature (30<T<300 K) internal friction and elastic modulus of the metallic glass (MG) Ni₆₀Nb₄₀ subjected to preliminary cold working by rolling, high-temperature uniform straining, or electrolytic hydrogenation is investigated. It is established that cold rolling, which induces localized plastic flow, or hydrogenation radically alters the temperature dependences of the internal friction and elastic modulus: hysteresis appears in the background damping and intense relaxational peaks arise in the internal friction, accompanied by a defect of the elastic modulus. A uniform strain does not affect the low-temperature anelastic behavior of MGs. Microplastic deformation is observed to accompany the hydrogenation of weakly loaded samples. It is asserted that localized microplastic deformation also occurs on hydrogenation with no load. Plastic flow accompanying both rolling and hydrogenation occurs by the formation and motion of dislocationlike defects, which in the presence of an external load of alternating sign give rise to the observed anelastic anomalies. It is concluded that the low-temperature internal-friction peaks, described in the literature, in the “as-quenched,” cold-deformed, or hydrogenated MGs are all of a dislocation nature. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 67, 35–46 (October 1997) In Memory of A. M. Roshchupkin