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Dominant shear bands observed in amorphous ZrCuAl nanowires under simulated compression

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Abstract

We observed the formation of dominant shear bands in model ZrCuAl metallic glass (MG) nanowires (18-nm-long) in molecular dynamics simulations, which implies size-independent incipient plasticity in MG materials. The MG nanowires were prepared using the simulated casting technique to ensure proper relaxation of sample surfaces. Under uniaxial compression, shear bands initiate at the surfaces and lead to reduced icosahedral short-range order. The shear band formation is sensitive to sample thermal history, which calls for careful consideration of sample preparation effects in both experimental and numerical studies of size effect in MG samples.

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Acknowledgment

We thank Michael Falk, Craig Maloney, Liping Huang, Despina Louca and Peter K. Liaw for stimulating discussions. Y.F.S. acknowledges financial support from NSF under Grant No. CMMI-1031408 and H.W.S. from NSF under Grant No. DMR-0907325. The molecular dynamics simulations were carried out in LAMMPS using the computational facilities of the Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations (CCNI) at RPI.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, 12180, USA

    Qiran Xiao & Yunfeng Shi

  2. School of Physics, Astronomy and Computational Sciences, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, 22030, USA

    H. W. Sheng

Authors
  1. Qiran Xiao
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  2. H. W. Sheng
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  3. Yunfeng Shi
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Correspondence to Yunfeng Shi.

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For supplementary material for this article, please visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2011.26

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Xiao, Q., Sheng, H.W. & Shi, Y. Dominant shear bands observed in amorphous ZrCuAl nanowires under simulated compression. MRS Communications 2, 13–16 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2011.26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2011.26

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