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Amorphous shear bands in crystalline materials as drivers of plasticity

Nature Materials volume 22, pages 1071–1077 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Traditionally, the formation of amorphous shear bands in crystalline materials has been undesirable, because shear bands can nucleate voids and act as precursors to fracture. They also form as a final stage of accumulated damage. Only recently were shear bands found to form in undefected crystals, where they serve as the primary driver of plasticity without nucleating voids. Here we have discovered trends in materials properties that determine when amorphous shear bands will form and whether they will drive plasticity or lead to fracture. We have identified the materials systems that exhibit shear-band deformation, and by varying the composition, we were able to switch from ductile to brittle behaviour. Our findings are based on a combination of experimental characterization and atomistic simulations, and they provide a potential strategy for increasing the toughness of nominally brittle materials.

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Fig. 1: Visualization of shear bands in simulated uniaxial tension.
Fig. 2: Microscopy analysis of shear bands after indentation.
Fig. 3: Micro-pillar compression tests of Al2Sm and Al3Sm.
Fig. 4: Key properties to determine the shear-band behaviours.
Fig. 5: Measured mechanical properties of Al2Sm and Al3Sm.

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Data availability

Experimental data that support the results of this work are available at the following link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16zsS_jBFdIwUaJo2euQgYRjgxYpSYfwT?usp=sharing. Simulation data that support the results of this work are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Army Research Office, grant no. W911NF2110130.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA

    Xuanxin Hu, Nuohao Liu, Vrishank Jambur, Siamak Attarian, Jianqi Xi, John Perepezko & Izabela Szlufarska

  2. School of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, PR China

    Ranran Su

  3. Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China

    Hongliang Zhang

  4. CISRI & NIMTE Joint Innovation Center for Rare Earth Permanent Magnets, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, PR China

    Hubin Luo

  5. Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, PR China

    Hubin Luo

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Contributions

I.S. directed the project. X.H. and I.S. conceived the idea. X.H. performed the TEM experiments and data analysis. X.H. performed the micro-pillar compression tests and data analysis. V.J., N.L. and H.L. performed the MD simulations and data interpretation. S.A. and J.X. performed the DFT simulations and data interpretation. X.H. performed the continuous stiffness tests and data analysis. X.H. and R.S. performed the sample synthesis and annealing process with J.P.’s help. X.H. and H.Z. prepared the FIB TEM samples. X.H. and H.Z. prepared the micro-pillars through the FIB system. X.H. and I.S. interpreted all the data, with input from all authors. X.H. and I.S. cowrote the manuscript with input from all authors.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hongliang Zhang or Izabela Szlufarska.

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Nature Materials thanks Patrick Cordier, Marc Meyers and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary Figs. 1–10, Tables 1 and 2, simulation method and references.

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Statistical source data of Fig. 3a,d.

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Hu, X., Liu, N., Jambur, V. et al. Amorphous shear bands in crystalline materials as drivers of plasticity. Nat. Mater. 22, 1071–1077 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-023-01597-y

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