Substantially enhanced plasticity of bulk metallic glasses by densifying local atomic packing

Introducing regions of looser atomic packing in bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) was reported to facilitate plastic deformation, rendering BMGs more ductile at room temperature. Here, we present a different alloy design approach, namely, doping the nonmetallic elements to form densely packed motifs. The enhanced structural fluctuations in Ti-, Zr- and Cu-based BMG systems leads to improved strength and renders these solutes' atomic neighborhoods more prone to plastic deformation at an increased critical stress. As a result, we simultaneously increased the compressive plasticity (from ∼8% to unfractured), strength (from ∼1725 to 1925 MPa) and toughness (from 87 ± 10 to 165 ± 15 MPa√m), as exemplarily demonstrated for the Zr₂₀Cu₂₀Hf₂₀Ti₂₀Ni₂₀ BMG. Our study advances the understanding of the atomic-scale origin of structure-property relationships in amorphous solids and provides a new strategy for ductilizing BMG without sacrificing strength.

Predicting orientation-dependent plastic susceptibility from static structure in amorphous solids via deep learning

It has been a long-standing materials science challenge to establish structure-property relations in amorphous solids. Here we introduce a rotationally non-invariant local structure representation that enables different predictions for different loading orientations, which is found essential for high-fidelity prediction of the propensity for stress-driven shear transformations. This novel structure representation, when combined with convolutional neural network (CNN), a powerful deep learning algorithm, leads to unprecedented accuracy for identifying atoms with high propensity for shear transformations (i.e., plastic susceptibility), solely from the static structure in both two- and three-dimensional model glasses. The data-driven models trained on samples at one composition and a given processing history are found transferrable to glass samples with different processing histories or at different compositions in the same alloy system. Our analysis of the new structure representation also provides valuable insight into key atomic packing features that influence the local mechanical response and its anisotropy in glasses.

Shadow glass transition as a thermodynamic signature of β relaxation in hyper-quenched metallic glasses

One puzzling phenomenon in glass physics is the so-called 'shadow glass transition' which is an anomalous heat-absorbing process below the real glass transition and influences glass properties. However, it has yet to be entirely characterized, let alone fundamentally understood. Conventional calorimetry detects it in limited heating rates. Here, with the chip-based fast scanning calorimetry, we study the dynamics of the shadow glass transition over four orders of magnitude in heating rates for 24 different hyper-quenched metallic glasses. We present evidence that the shadow glass transition correlates with the secondary (β) relaxation: (i) The shadow glass transition and the β relaxation follow the same temperature-time dependence, and both merge with the primary relaxation at high temperature. (ii) The shadow glass transition is more obvious in glasses with pronounced β relaxation, and vice versa; their magnitudes are proportional to each other. Our findings suggest that the shadow glass transition signals the thermodynamics of β relaxation in hyper-quenched metallic glasses.

Role of Boron in Enhancing Electron Delocalization to Improve Catalytic Activity of Fe-Based Metallic Glasses for Persulfate-Based Advanced Oxidation

Metallic glasses (MGs) with superior catalytic performance have recently been recognized as attractive candidates for wastewater treatment. However, further improving their performance will require knowledge of how to precisely regulate their electronic structures via compositional control. Here, two Fe-based MGs (Fe₇₈Si₉B₁₃ and Fe₈₀Si₉B₁₁) were prepared to compare how slightly altering boron content affected their electronic structure and catalytic performance. Density functional theory revealed that the Fe₇₈Si₉B₁₃ MG with 2 atom % higher boron exhibits an attractive electron delocalization, a high persulfate adsorption energy, and a superb work function due to precise regulation of the electronic structure, leading to exceptional degradation performance for seven organic pollutants. Furthermore, it can be reused 23 times without significant deterioration of catalytic performance, amorphous structure, and surface morphology. This work provides a new paradigm for the fundamental theory explaining how electronic structure is controlled by composition, creating a solid foundation to explore novel catalysts for water treatment.

Flow units as dynamic defects in metallic glassy materials

In a crystalline material, structural defects such as dislocations or twins are well defined and largely determine the mechanical and other properties of the material. For metallic glass (MG) with unique properties in the absence of a long-range lattice, intensive efforts have focused on the search for similar 'defects'. The primary objective has been the elucidation of the flow mechanism of MGs. However, their atomistic mechanism of mechanical deformation and atomic flow response to stress, temperature, and failure, have proven to be challenging. In this paper, we briefly review the state-of-the-art studies on the dynamic defects in metallic glasses from the perspective of flow units. The characteristics, activation and evolution processes of flow units as well as their correlation with mechanical properties, including plasticity, strength, fracture, and dynamic relaxation, are introduced. We show that flow units that are similar to structural defects such as dislocations are crucial in the optimization and design of metallic glassy materials via the thermal, mechanical and high-pressure tailoring of these units. In this report, the relevant issues and open questions with regard to the flow unit model are also introduced and discussed.