Evaluation of mechanical properties of Zr-Cu-Al-Ni TFMG using nanoindentation

Nanomechanical properties of thin-film metallic glasses (TFMG) with various thicknesses can be evaluated through nanoindentation experiments. In this study, zirconium based TFMG (Zr-TFMG, Zr65Cu15Al10Ni10) is deposited on various substrates and then, the effects of film thickness and substrate type on material property evaluation are investigated. Free volume model (FVM) is employed to consider the pressure-dependent behavior such as shear band and softening of Zr-TFMG. FVM parameters of Zr-TFMG were determined by matching the numerical load-depth curves with experimental ones. Significant pile-up on Si substrate, while sink-in on soda-lime glass substrate, implies that deformation behavior of Zr-TFMG depends on the substrate type. Growth of free volume with increasing thickness influences the evaluated FVM parameters. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

The nanomechanical properties of thin-film metallic glasses (TFMG) with different thicknesses were evaluated through nanoindentation experiments. The effects of film thickness and substrate type on material property evaluation were investigated, with the parameters of the free volume model (FVM) also influenced by the growth of free volume with increasing thickness.