Fractalization of the surface relief of an amorphous alloy as an indication of rupture

Foils of an Fe₇₇Ni₁Si₉B₁₃ amorphous alloy were subjected to uniaxial tension up to their rupture. Techniques of scanning tunneling, atomic force, electron, and optical microscopy were applied to study the surface relief of loaded foils and their rupture faces. By means of wavelet transformation and by the box counting method, it was shown that, before rupture, the foil surfaces in the region of the future rupture tend to become monofractal and that the rupture face inherits this fractality.