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

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Abstract

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 transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) were carried out to explore the effects of cryogenic thermal cycling (CTC) on mechanical/structural heterogeneity, nanoscale creep deformation and optical properties of nanostructured 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.

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摘要

金属玻璃存在纳米尺度空间 不均匀性. 然而外场激发下, 金属玻璃的结构/力学不. 均匀性演变及其与物性之间的关联尚不明确. 本文通 过纳米压痕技术, 原子力显微镜及高分辨透射电镜表 征手段，探究了低温热循环对纳米结构金属玻璃薄膜 力学/结构不均匀性, 纳米蠕变行为及光学性能的影响. 研究表明低温热循环改变了硬度, 模量, 能量耗散的 分布趋势, 力学不均匀性先增加后减, 基于Maxwell–Voigt 模型. 低温热循环容易激活软区长弛豫时间的缺 陷. 对硬区缺陷影响较小; 瞬态蠕变向稳态蠕变转变 的时间延长. 由于Cu 和Ni 元素的富集, 15 次低温热 循环后的样品反射率提高. 这项工作为金属玻璃力学/ 结构不均匀性特征及其对纳米蠕变行为及光学性能的演化提供了新的见解, 对未来高性能纳米结构金属玻 璃薄膜新材料的开发具有重要的指导意义.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51971061 and 52231005) and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20221474).

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  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Advanced Metallic Materials, Southeast University, Nan**g, 211189, China

    **g-**an Cui, Qiang Luo, Zheng-Guo Zhang & Bao-Long Shen

  2. School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    **g-Tao Zhu

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Cui, JX., Luo, Q., Zhang, ZG. et al. Tailoring mechanical heterogeneity, nanoscale creep deformation and optical properties of nanostructured Zr-based metallic glass. Rare Met. 42, 3430–3442 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-023-02440-8

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