A constitutive theory and modeling on deviation of shear band inclination angles in bulk metallic glasses

A constitutive theory for metallic glasses is established that is based mainly on the Drucker-Prager model and a free-volume theory. The primary emphasis of this theory is on volume dilatation and its consequences on mechanical responses in metallic glasses that have been known from studies in both experiments and atomistic simulations. We also implemented the constitutive theory in a finite element modeling scheme and conducted numerical modeling of deformation of a metallic glass under plane-strain tension and compression. In particular, we focused our attention on the deviation of the shear band inclination angle, a commonly observed phenomenon for metallic glasses. We found very good qualitative agreement with available experimental data on shear band inclination angle and stress-strain relation. We also give a detailed discussion on different constitutive models, in particular the Coulomb-Mohr model, in the context of predicting the shear band inclination angle.