On the origin of softening in the plastic deformation of metallic glasses

In the plastic deformation of amorphous materials, dilatation occurs universally with softening. However, the critical question that whether softening is caused by dilatation or not remains an ansatz and requires experimental examination. In this work, by examining the deformation behaviors of 3 metallic glasses (MGs) with distinct Johari-Goldstein (JG) relaxation characteristics before and after crystallization with nanoindentation, it is found that the origin of softening is probably not dilatation but the collective mode in the activation dynamics of shear transformation zones (STZs). Since the deformation in the creep stage of nanoindentation of the MGs originates from the delayed plasticity from the loading stage and depends on the softened deforming state of the MGs, the creep depth vs. time curves in the creep stage of nanoindentation of the MGs are examined and display similar loading rate dependent softening phenomena for both the glassy and crystallized MGs. The stretched exponent and relaxation time characterizing the deformation dynamics in the creep stage of nanoindentation are derived by fitting the creep depth vs. time curves with the Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts (KWW) equation. The stretched exponents indicate similar collective modes in the activation dynamics of the elementary deformation units (STZs in glassy MGs and dislocations in crystallized MGs). The relaxation times manifest similar softening effects in the deformation accommodation processes of both the glassy and crystallized MGs, except for a glassy La MG of which the relaxation time is extraordinary for its pronounced JG relaxation. The extraordinary relaxation time of the glassy La MG precludes the possibility of shear dilatation being the main cause for the softening of the glassy La MGs indicated by the loading rate dependent creep depth vs. time curves. The stretched exponent and the relaxation time indicate the homological softening dynamics in the plastic deformation of the glassy and crystallized MGs. For the distinct elementary deformation units, i.e., STZs in glassy MGs and dislocations in crystallized MGs, noting the absence of dilatation in dislocation movements, the softening phenomena in the plastic deformation of both the glassy and crystallized MGs is suggested to originate from the collective mode in the activation dynamics of the elementary deformation units, rather than from local properties of elementary deformation units, such as dilatation in STZs.