Shear bands and cracking of metallic glass plates in bending

The thickness dependence of yielding and fracture of metallic glass plates subjected to bending is considered in terms of the shear band processes responsible for these properties. We argue that the shear band spacing (and length) scales with the thickness of the plate because of strain relaxation in the vicinity of the shear band at the surface. This is consistent with recent measurements of shear band spacing versus sample size. We also argue that the shear displacements in the shear band scale with the shear band length and plate thickness, thus causing cracks to be initiated in thicker plates at smaller bending strains. This leads to fracture bending strains that decrease markedly with increasing plate thickness, consistent with recent experiments. These results suggest that amorphous metals in the form of foams might have superior ductility and toughness. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.