Viscosity and transport in a model fragile metallic glass

How thermally activated structural excitations quantitatively mediate transport and microplasticity ina model binary glass at the microsecond timescale is revealed using atomistic simulation. These local excitations, involving a stringlike sequence of atomic displacements, admit a far-field shear-stress signature and underlie the transport of free-volume and bond geometry. Such transport is found to correspond to the evolution of a disclination network describing the spatial connectivity of topologically distinct bonding environments, demonstrating the important role of geometrical frustration in both glass structure and its underlying dynamics.

Automated summary

Atomistic simulation reveals how thermally activated structural excitations quantitatively mediate transport and microplasticity in a model binary glass at the microsecond timescale, demonstrating the important role of geometrical frustration in both glass structure and its underlying dynamics through the evolution of a disclination network describing the spatial connectivity of topologically distinct bonding environments.