Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Temperature rise at shear bands in metallic glasses

Nature Materials volume 5, pages 15–18 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

At ambient temperature the plastic flow shown by metallic glasses is localized into shear bands1,2. This localization and the liquid-like features seen on fracture surfaces are consistent with shear softening in the bands. The extent to which this softening is a result of local heating has remained controversial, with estimates of the local temperature rise ranging from less than 0.1 kelvin to a few thousand kelvin3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11. Here we present a new experimental method based on a fusible coating, which shows that the temperature rise, over a few nanoseconds, can be as high as a few thousand kelvin; nevertheless, the temperature rise does not seem to control the shear-band thickness. It is important to understand the mechanisms of shear banding and associated softening because these are the principal factors limiting structural applications of bulk metallic glasses, which have some attractive mechanical properties such as high yield strength12,13.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Bend-test specimen and the fusible tin coating used to study shear banding near notches.
Figure 2: Shear bands near a notch in a bend-test specimen coated with tin.
Figure 3: Tin coating formed into spherical beads at shear bands provides evidence of local heating and melting of the coating.
Figure 4: Local heating at a shear band, calculated for two values of total heat content.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Pampillo, C. A. Review: Flow and fracture in amorphous alloys. J. Mater. Sci. 10, 1194–1227 (1975).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Bengus, V. Z. et al. New features of the low temperature ductile shear failure observed in bulk amorphous alloys. J. Mater. Sci. 35, 4449–4457 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Bengus, V. Z. et al. Some peculiarities of ductile shear failure of amorphous alloy ribbons. Int. J. Rapid Solid. 8, 21–31 (1993).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Bruck, H. A., Rosakis, A. J. & Johnson, W. L. The dynamic compressive behavior of beryllium bearing bulk metallic glasses. J. Mater. Res. 11, 503–511 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Liu, C. T. et al. Test environments and mechanical properties of Zr-base bulk amorphous alloys. Metall. Mater. Trans. A 29, 1811–1820 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Flores, K. M. & Dauskardt, R. H. Local heating associated with crack tip plasticity in Zr-Ti-Ni-Cu-Be bulk amorphous metals. J. Mater. Res. 14, 638–643 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Gilbert, C. J. et al. Light emission during fracture of a Zr-Ti-Ni-Cu-Be bulk metallic glass. Appl. Phys. Lett. 74, 3809–3811 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Wright, W. J., Schwarz, R. B. & Nix, W. D. Localized heating during serrated plastic flow in bulk metallic glasses. Mater. Sci. Eng. A 319–321, 229–232 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Kim, J.-J., Choi, Y., Suresh, S. & Argon, A. S. Nanocrystallization during nanoindentation of a bulk amorphous metal alloy at room temperature. Science 295, 654–657 (2002).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Yang, B. et al. In-situ thermographic observation of mechanical damage in bulk-metallic glasses during fatigue and tensile experiments. Intermetallics 12, 1265–1274 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Yang, B. et al. Dynamic evolution of nanoscale shear bands in a bulk-metallic glass. Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 141904 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Johnson, W. L. Bulk glass-forming metallic alloys: science and technology. Mater. Res. Soc. Bull. 24, 42–56 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Inoue, A. Stabilization of metallic supercooled liquid and bulk amorphous alloys. Acta Mater. 48, 279–306 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Li, J. C. M. Behavior and properties of shear bands. Polym. Eng. Sci. 24, 750–760 (1984).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Xue, Q., Meyers, M. A. & Nesterenko, V. F. Self-organization of shear bands in titanium and Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Acta Mater. 50, 575–596 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Donovan, P. E. & Stobbs, W. M. The structure of shear bands in metallic glasses. Acta Metall. 29, 1419–1436 (1981).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Pekarskaya, E., Kim, C. P. & Johnson, W. L. In situ transmission electron microscopy studies of shear bands in a bulk metallic glass based composite. J. Mater. Res. 16, 2513–2518 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Polk, D. E. & Turnbull, D. Flow of melt and glass forms of metallic alloys. Acta Metall. 20, 493–498 (1972).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Spaepen, F. & Turnbull, D. A mechanism for the flow and fracture of metallic glasses. Scripta Metall. 8, 563–568 (1974).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Spaepen, F. A microscopic mechanism for steady state inhomogeneous flow in metallic glasses. Acta Metall. 25, 407–415 (1977).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Steif, P. S., Spaepen, F. & Hutchinson, J. W. Strain localization in amorphous metals. Acta Metall. 30, 447–455 (1982).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Pampillo, C. A. Localized shear deformation in a glassy metal. Scripta Metall. 6, 915–918 (1972).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Krishnanand, K. D. & Cahn, R. W. Recovery from plastic deformation in a Ni/Nb alloy glass. Scripta Metall. 9, 1259–1261 (1975).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Leamy, H. J., Chen, H. S. & Wang, T. T. Plastic flow and fracture of metallic glass. Metall. Trans. 3, 699–708 (1972).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Lowhaphandu, P. & Lewandowski, J. J. Fracture toughness and notched toughness of bulk amorphous alloy: Zr-Ti-Ni-Cu-Be. Scripta Mater. 38, 1811–1817 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Hufnagel, T. C., Jiao, T., Li, Y., Xing, L.-Q. & Ramesh, K. T. Deformation and failure of Zr57Ti5Cu20Ni8Al10 bulk metallic glass under quasi-static and dynamic compression. J. Mater. Res. 17, 1441–1445 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Wang, W. H., Dong, C. & Shek, C. H. Bulk metallic glasses. Mater. Sci. Eng. R 44, 45–89 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Yamasaki, M., Kagao, S. & Kawamura, Y. Thermal diffusivity and conductivity of supercooled liquid in Zr41Ti14Cu12Ni10Be23 metallic glass. Appl. Phys. Lett. 84, 4654–4655 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Eshelby, J. D. & Pratt, P. L. Note on the heating effect of moving dislocations. Acta Metall. 4, 560–562 (1956).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Chen, H., He, Y., Shiflet, G. J. & Poon, S. J. Deformation-induced nanocrystal formation in shear bands of amorphous alloys. Nature 367, 541–543 (1994).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Jiang, W. H. & Atzmon, M. The effect of compression and tension on shear-band structure and nanocrystallization in amorphous Al90Fe5Gd5: a high-resolution transmission electron microscopy study. Acta Mater. 51, 4095–4105 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Sergueeva, A. V. et al. Shear band formation and ductility in bulk metallic glass. Phil. Mag. 85, 2671–2687 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

N. Stelmashenko is thanked for assistance with sputter deposition, and M. J. Stowell for useful discussions. Experimental support for J.J.L. on sabbatical at the University of Cambridge was provided by the Office of Naval Research, DARPA and Reference Metals. Approved for public release. Distribution unlimited. A.L.G. acknowledges support from the European Commission RTN ‘Ductilisation of BMG’.

Author information

Author notes

  1. J. J. Lewandowski

    Present address: Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Pembroke Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QZ, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Pembroke Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QZ, UK

    A. L. Greer

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106, USA

    J. J. Lewandowski & A. L. Greer

Authors
  1. J. J. Lewandowski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. L. Greer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. J. Lewandowski.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lewandowski, J., Greer, A. Temperature rise at shear bands in metallic glasses. Nature Mater 5, 15–18 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1536

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1536

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing