Time-dependent deformation mechanism of metallic glass in different structural states at different temperatures

Abstract There is limited understanding of time-dependent plastic deformation behavior of amorphous alloys as a function of their structural state. Here, the creep behavior of Zr52.5Ti5Cu17.9Ni14.6Al10 bulk metallic glass was investigated in its as-cast and relaxed states using nanoindentation technique with applied load in the range of 500–1500 mN and temperature in the range of room temperature to 573 K. The creep displacement increased with increasing load and temperature since the creep process is thermally activated and diffusion rate is enhanced at elevated temperature and higher load. The creep strain rate sensitivity, which is a measure of the creep mechanism, increased with increase in temperature and decrease in applied load. This was attributed to the transition from localized to more homogeneous creep. Reduction in free volume for the relaxed alloy resulted in lower creep displacement and larger strain rate sensitivity compared to its as-cast counterpart. The results suggest that diffusion-based deformation dominate at higher temperature in contrast to shear transformation mediated plasticity at room temperature. The volume of shear transformation zone for the metallic glass was calculated using cooperative shearing model and correlated with the structural state for fundamental insights into the deformation process as a function of temperature and load.