The role of structural relaxation in the plastic flow of metallic glasses

Abstract

The role of structural relaxation in the plastic flow behavior of metallic glasses is analyzed both theoretically and experimentally. The characteristic time of structural relaxation is calculated as a function of glass thermal prehistory. It is revealed that heating above the room temperature by several tens of Kelvins results in a sharp, by several orders of magnitude, decrease of this time. It is argued that localized “inhomogeneous” dislocation-like flow occurs on loading if the characteristic time of structural relaxation is much greater than the characteristic loading time, while “homogeneous” viscous deformation is observed in the opposite case. Precise measurements of acoustic emission in a Co-based metallic glass being loaded at different temperatures and strain rates are employed for verification of this statement. It is shown that the inhomogeneous → homogeneous flow transition occurs at temperatures somewhat higher than T=400 K, and the transition temperature increases by ≈ 40 K as the strain rate increases by two orders of magnitude. Theoretical estimations show that for the inhomogeneous flow the characteristic time of structural relaxation in the loaded state is indeed much greater than the characteristic loading time. It is concluded that the kinetics of structural relaxation determines the flow mode of metallic glasses in a unique manner. The kinetically “frozen” structural relaxation gives rise to a crystalline-like localized flow under load while intensive structural relaxation facilitates a viscous glass-like behavior.