Superelongation and atomic chain formation in nanosized metallic glass.

Bulk metallic glasses are brittle and fail with no plastic strain at room temperature once shear bands propagate. How do metallic glasses deform when the size is less than that of shear bands? Here we show that Al90Fe5Ce5 metallic glass with a size <20  nm can be extremely elongated to ∼200%. Remarkably, even an atomic chain was formed after sample necking, which was never observed in metallic glasses. The unexpected ductility may originate from the fast surface diffusion and the absence of shear band formation, and may guide the development of ductile metallic glasses for engineering applications.

[1]  S. B. Fisher,et al.  On the temperature rise in electron irradiated foils , 1970 .

[2]  C. Pampillo.  Flow and fracture in amorphous alloys , 1975 .

[3]  S. Poon,et al.  Deformation-induced nanocrystal formation in shear bands of amorphous alloys , 1994, Nature.

[4]  Brian D. Wirth,et al.  Primary damage formation in bcc iron , 1997 .

[5]  W. Johnson,et al.  Mechanical properties of tungsten and steel fiber reinforced Zr41.25Ti13.75Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 metallic glass matrix composites , 1998 .

[6]  Yukihito Kondo,et al.  Quantized conductance through individual rows of suspended gold atoms , 1998, Nature.

[7]  W. Johnson,et al.  Mechanical properties of Zr_57Nb_5Al_10Cu_15.4Ni_12.6 metallic glass matrix particulate composites , 1999 .

[8]  W. Johnson.  Bulk Glass-Forming Metallic Alloys: Science and Technology , 1999 .

[9]  A. Inoue.  Stabilization of metallic supercooled liquid and bulk amorphous alloys , 2000 .

[10]  J. Eckert,et al.  Difference in compressive and tensile fracture mechanisms of Zr59CU20Al10Ni8Ti3 bulk metallic glass , 2003 .

[11]  Naoko I Kato,et al.  Reducing focused ion beam damage to transmission electron microscopy samples. , 2004, Journal of electron microscopy.

[12]  M. Malac,et al.  Radiation damage in the TEM and SEM. , 2004, Micron.

[13]  J. Eckert,et al.  "Work-Hardenable" ductile bulk metallic glass. , 2005, Physical review letters.

[14]  Mo Li,et al.  Effects of surface imperfections on deformation and failure of amorphous metals , 2005 .

[15]  R. Langford,et al.  Focused ion beams techniques for nanomaterials characterization , 2006, Microscopy research and technique.

[16]  Z. Zhang,et al.  Shear fracture and fragmentation mechanisms of bulk metallic glasses , 2006 .

[17]  D. Galvão,et al.  Experimental realization of suspended atomic chains composed of different atomic species , 2006, Nature nanotechnology.

[18]  P. Peralta,et al.  Length scales in crystal plasticity , 2006 .

[19]  A. L. Greer,et al.  Thickness of shear bands in metallic glasses , 2006 .

[20]  Mo Li,et al.  Molecular dynamics simulation of intrinsic and extrinsic mechanical properties of amorphous metals , 2006 .

[21]  Zhe-feng Zhang,et al.  Multiplication of shear bands and ductility of metallic glass , 2007 .

[22]  T. Hufnagel,et al.  Mechanical behavior of amorphous alloys , 2007 .

[23]  P. Yan,et al.  Tensile ductility and necking of metallic glass. , 2007, Nature materials.

[24]  Mo Li,et al.  Free Volume Evolution in Metallic Glasses Subjected to Mechanical Deformation , 2007 .

[25]  A. Minor,et al.  Plastic flow and failure resistance of metallic glass: Insight from in situ compression of nanopillars , 2008 .

[26]  P. Bronsveld,et al.  An electron microscopy appraisal of tensile fracture in metallic glasses , 2008 .

[27]  K. Yasuda,et al.  Electron energy-dependent formation of dislocation loops in CeO2 , 2008 .

[28]  Z. Zhang,et al.  The more shearing, the thicker shear band and heat-affected zone in bulk metallic glass , 2008 .

[29]  H. Yang,et al.  Influence of TM and RE elements on glass formation of the ternary Al-TM-RE systems , 2008 .

[30]  Douglas C. Hofmann,et al.  Designing metallic glass matrix composites with high toughness and tensile ductility , 2008, Nature.