Shear striations and deformation kinetics in highly deformed Zr-based bulk metallic glasses

Detailed microscopic observations of the shear surfaces of a deformed, but unfractured, bulk metallic glass sample reveal a wealth of information on the deformation characteristics, kinetics and influence of temperature during serrated flow. The shear surfaces exhibit shear striations, which are similar to those resulting from viscous-like flow in rock-forming minerals. On the shear surface only a few areas show typical vein patterns, the thicknesses of which are less than those known from fracture surfaces. Combined with estimates for adiabatic heating, this indicates that sufficiently high temperatures are already present during shear banding before fracture, though instigated by non-purely adiabatic effects. A kinetic model based on an energy variable which reflects the structural relaxation ability is proposed that accounts for the occurrence of serrated flow combined with negative strain rate sensitivity, and the transition to non-serrated flow, i.e. positive strain rate sensitivity, below a critical temperature and strain rate.