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Dominant shear bands observed in amorphous ZrCuAl nanowires under simulated compression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2012

Qiran Xiao
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180
H.W. Sheng
Affiliation:
School of Physics, Astronomy and Computational Sciences, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia 22030
Yunfeng Shi*
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180
*
Address all correspondence to Yunfeng Shi atshiy2@rpi.edu
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Abstract

We observed the formation of dominant shear bands in model ZrCuAl metallic glass (MG) nanowires (18-nm-long) in molecular dynamics simulations, which implies size-independent incipient plasticity in MG materials. The MG nanowires were prepared using the simulated casting technique to ensure proper relaxation of sample surfaces. Under uniaxial compression, shear bands initiate at the surfaces and lead to reduced icosahedral short-range order. The shear band formation is sensitive to sample thermal history, which calls for careful consideration of sample preparation effects in both experimental and numerical studies of size effect in MG samples.

Type
Rapid Communications
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

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