On the shear-affected zone of shear bands in bulk metallic glasses

A. Davani F, Hilke S, Rösner H, Geissler D, Gebert A, Wilde G

Abstract

Notched bars of bulk metallic glasses, Pd40Ni40P20 and Zr52.5Cu17.9Ni14.6Al10Ti5 (Vit105), were deformedunder 3-point bending conditions, resulting in the formation of shear bands before failure. The immediateenvironment of shear bands was investigated in detail using fluctuation electron microscopy toextract information on the strain-induced modification of the medium-range order (MRO) and its lateralextension. Characteristic material-independent gradients were observed for the tensile and compressivesides of the samples indicating the impact of the local stress state on the MRO. Our results based onstructural changes of the MRO suggest an upper limit of a few microns for the lateral extension of theshear-affected environments of shear bands.