Recovering compressive plasticity of bulk metallic glasses by high-temperature creep

Most bulk metallic glasses fail mechanically in a brittle manner, without much plasticity. Annealing at a temperature below the glass transition temperature typically results in structural relaxation and even more enhanced brittleness. However, we report here that significant plasticity can be recovered if the sample is subjected to stress during annealing, resulting in thermomechanical creep. The structural analysis indicates that the high-temperature creep alleviates the effect of the structural relaxation and thus leads to structural rejuvenation and improved plasticity. (C) 2013 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.