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Nanoscale strength distribution in amorphous versus crystalline metals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

C.E. Packard ,
O. Franke ,
E.R. Homer  and
C.A. Schuh
C.E. Packard
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
O. Franke
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
E.R. Homer
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
C.A. Schuh*
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: schuh@mit.edu This author was an editor of this journal during the review and decision stage. For the JMR policy on review and publication of manuscripts authored by editors, please refer to http://www.mrs.org/jmr_policy This paper has been accepted as an Invited Feature Paper.
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Abstract

Low-load nanoindentation can be used to assess not only the plastic yield point, but the distribution of yield points in a material. This paper reviews measurements of the so-called nanoscale strength distribution (NSD) on two classes of materials: crystals and metallic glasses. In each case, the yield point has a significant spread (10–50% of the mean normalized stress), but the origins of the distribution are shown to be very different in the two materials classes. In crystalline materials the NSD can arise from thermal fluctuations and is attended by significant rate and temperature dependence. In metallic glasses well below their glass-transition temperature, the NSD is reflective of fluctuations in the sampled structure and is not very sensitive to rate or temperature. Computer simulations using shear transformation zone dynamics are used to separate the effects of thermal and structural fluctuations in metallic glasses, and support the latter as dominating the NSD of those materials at low temperatures. Finally, the role of the NSD as a window on structural changes due to annealing or prior deformation is discussed as a direction for future research on metallic glasses in particular.

Keywords

NanoindentationAmorphousStrength
Type
Invited Feature Paper
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 25 , Issue 12 , December 2010 , pp. 2251 - 2263
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2010

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