Observation of structural anisotropy in metallic glasses induced by mechanical deformation

We have investigated atomic structure of a Fe₈₁B₁₃Si₄C₂ metallic glass after mechanical creep deformation. We determined the structure function and pair density function resolved for azimuthal angle using x-ray scattering and a two-dimensional detector. The results are analyzed by the spherical harmonics expansion, and are compared to the often-used simple analysis of the anisotropic pair density function determined by measuring the structure function along two directions with respect to the stress. We observed uniaxial structural anisotropy in a sample deformed during creep experiment. The observed macroscopic shear strain is explained in terms of local bond anisotropy induced by deformation at elevated temperature. The bond anisotropy is a “memory” of this deformation after load was removed. We showed that use of sine-Fourier transformation to anisotropic glass results in systematic errors in the atomic pair distribution function.