Plasticity Enhancement of Composite and Nanoscaled Metallic Glasses

Abstract

Under tensile loading at low temperature metallic glasses generally fail in a brittle manner. So far, significant tensile ductility has been observed if heterogeneities, such as crystalline secondary phases, are introduced into the glassy matrix or when reducing the size of metallic glass samples down the nanoscale regime. Here, we perform molecular dynamics simulations on Cu$_{64}$Zr$_{36}$ composite structures reinforced with B2 CuZr nanowire and investigate how the martensitic phase transformation and the distribution of these precipitates influence the mechanical deformation mechanisms. Additionally, we provide an atomistic understanding of the deformation mechanisms of metallic glass nanowires and differentiate the extrinsic size effects and aspect ratio contribution to plasticity