Investigation of relaxation behavior in highly rejuvenated bulk metallic glasses by in-situ synchrotron X-ray scattering

Relaxation behaviors of highly rejuvenated Zr50Cu40Al10 bulk metallic glass was investigated using synchrotron X-ray scattering coupled with differential scanning calorimetry. The relaxation of rejuvenated volume is found to correspond to a marked exothermic event prior to the glass transition. High-energy synchrotron X-ray measurements of the structure factor show that annihilation of rejuvenated volume correspond to a sharpening of the scattering peaks. The calculated reduced pair distribution function suggests that the atomic re-arrangement in the second shell are largely responsible for the reduction in the free volume and decrease in full-width at half-maximum of the Total Structure Factor observed during structural relaxation. Mechanical properties in the highly rejuvenated metallic glass were evaluated as a function of annealing temperature.