Correlations of multiscale structural evolution and homogeneous flows in metallic glass ribbons

Studying the flow behavior is critical to understand the deformation mechanism of amorphous solids. However, detecting the basic flow events in amorphous solids is challenging. Here, by simultaneous SAXS/WAXS, elementary flow carriers in wound metallic glasses are identified from flow induced structural heterogeneities with a radius of gyration of 2.5 similar to 3.5 nm. Their size increases and morphology changes from sphere-like to rod-like under flow. Moreover, the atomic structure exhibits an unusual change to a more disordered state during winding/annealing at the temperature of similar to 0.8 Tg. This work provides an atomic-to-nanoscale description of the flow carriers of amorphous solids during deformation.

Automated summary

Studying the flow behavior of amorphous solids is crucial for understanding their deformation mechanism, but detecting basic flow events in these materials is challenging. Using simultaneous SAXS/WAXS experiments, researchers have identified elementary flow carriers in wound metallic glasses, with a radius of gyration ranging from 2.5 to 3.5 nm, based on flow-induced structural heterogeneities. The size of these carriers increases and their morphology changes from spherical to rod-like during flow. Additionally, the atomic structure undergoes an unusual change to a more disordered state during winding/annealing at a temperature around 0.8 Tg. This work provides an atomic-to-nanoscale description of flow carriers in amorphous solids during deformation.