Processing effects on fracture toughness of metallic glasses

Measuring fracture toughness of metallic glasses (MGs) is challenging, and a large scatter has been observed which has been at least partially attributed to varying processing conditions. Here, we investigated the influence of main processing conditions, cooling rate and processing environment, on the fracture toughness of MGs. Through a thermoplastic forming based toughness evaluation approach, we found that processing effects can be dramatic and typically very specific to the alloy. Hence, general predictions of processing effects are challenging and MG specific characterization are required; however we offer some insight how the cooling rate effect can be explained with fictive temperatures. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Acta Materialia Inc.