Dependence of shear yield strain and shear transformation zone on the glass transition temperature in thin film metallic glasses

Abstract

The dependence of shear yield strain, the activation energy and volume of shear transformation zone on the glass transition temperature was investigated through the analysis of statistical distributions of the first pop-in events during spherical indentation of four different thin film metallic glasses. Only the Cu–Zr metallic glass exhibits a bimodal distribution of the first pop-in loads, whereas W–Ru–B, Zr–Cu–Ni–Al and La–Co–Al metallic glasses show an unimodal distribution. Results show that shear yield strain and activation energy of shear transformation zone decrease whereas the volume of shear transformation zone increases with increasing homologous temperature, indicating that it is the activation energy rather than the volume of shear transformation zone that controls shear yield strain.