Patterning of metallic glasses using polymer templates

We demonstrate patterning of metallic glasses using flexible and reusable polymer templates. The elastic deformation of polymer templates is utilized to pattern features of varying dimensions and oblique angles on planar and non-planar surfaces. This is enabled by low thermoplastic processing temperatures of certain metallic glasses and the stability of thermosetting polymers used as the mold making material. The polymer templates are fabricated by standard replica molding of silicon master templates. This provides a scalable method for patterning of metallic glasses which otherwise requires expensive disposable silicon templates. (C) 2015 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.