Tailoring mechanical heterogeneity,nanoscale creep deformation and optical properties of nanostructured Zr-based metallic glass

Metallic glasses are spatially heterogeneous at the nanometer scale.However,the effects of external excitation on their structural and mechanical heterogeneity and the correlation to their properties are still unresolved.Nanoindentation,atomic force microscopy(AFM) and high-resolution transmis sion elec tron micro scopy(HRTEM) were carried out to explore the effects of cryogenic thermal cycling(CTC) on mechanical/structural heterogeneity,nano sc ale creep deformation and optical properties of nano structured metallic glass thin films(MGTFs).The results indicate that CTC treatment alters the distribution fluctuations of hardness/modulus and energy dissipation and results in an increase-then-decrease variation in mechanical heterogeneity.By applying Maxwell-Voigt model,it can be shown that CTC treatment results in a remarkable activation of more defects with longer relaxation time in soft regions but has only a slight effect on defects in hard regions.In addition,CTC treatment increases the transition time from primary-state stage to steady-state stage during creep deformation.The enhanced optical reflectivity of the MGTFs after 15 thermal cycles can be attributed to increased aggregation of Cu and Ni elements.The results of this study shed new light on understanding mechanical/structural heterogeneity and its influence on nanoscale creep deformation and optical characteristics of nanostructured MGTFs,and facilitate the design of high-performance nanostructured MGTFs.

First-principle prediction of structural and mechanical properties in NbMoTaWRe_(x) refractory high-entropy alloys with experimental validation

In this work,the effect of Re alloying on the phase composition,crystal structure,and mechanical properties of NbMoTaWRe_(x) (x=0,0.27,0.57,0.92,1.33) refractory high-entropy alloys (RHEAs) were systematically investigated by combining the calculation of phase diagram(CALPHAD),first-principle calculations and experiment.The theoretical predictions showed good consistency with the experimental results.As the increase in Re content,the theoretical results showed that all considered alloys have a single body-centered cubic (bcc) structure and the lattice constant and ductility were decreased,while the elastic moduli and hardness were improved.To avoid extreme brittleness,a strategic suggestion was given for the design of Re-containing RHEAs in the future.

Universality of slip avalanches in a ductile Fe-based bulk metallic glass

Intermittent serrated flows of a novel ductile Fe60Ni20P13C7 bulk metallic glass（BMG）at variant strain rates were investigated by statistics analysis.Peak and clutter distribution of slip-avalanche magnitudes are displayed during stable plastic flows at strain rates of 2×10-4 s-1 and 5×10-5 s-1,respectively,which means that serration behavior depends on the strain rate.However,the remarkable agreement between measured slip-avalanche magnitudes and the scaling behavior,i.e.a universal complementary cumulative distribution function（CCDF）predicted by mean-field theory（MFT）model,indicates that the plasticity of the present Fe-based BMGs can be tuned by imposed strain rates：Smax^6）ε-λ.This tuned plasticity is elucidated with expended free-volume model.Moreover,the scaling behavior of serrated flows for other strain rates can be predicted as well.