In this article, we investigated the defects introduced by surface mechanical attrition treatment by Doppler-broadening spectroscopy of positron annihilation radiation in surface-nanostructured 316L stainless steel. Through the measurement of different thinning layers in the samples treated for 15 min, the slope of line shape parameter S versus wing parameter W curves showed three different values with depth responding to the change of defect configuration. An unusual change of S and W parameters near the surface was mainly from the effect of quantum-dot-like state caused by the formation of nanoparticles. Based on the change of S ˜ W with depth, the martensite phase transformation induced by strain could be estimated to occur within a depth of 35 μm.

Using the microindentation test, the stress-assisted-electrochemical corrosion of Cu46.25Zr45.25Al7.5Er1 bulk metallic glass (BMG) was studied in a 10 wt% NaCl electrolyte. The microindentation was performed in an indentation load range of 500 to 4000 mN to create shear bands over the deformation zone. Electric current of various densities was passed through the indented BMGs to evaluate the effect of shear bands and localized deformation on the electrochemical corrosion of the BMGs. Surface pits always initiated from the shear-banding zone and the contact edges between the indenter and the BMGs, and the size of the corroded zone grew with the increase in the polarization time, the indentation load, and the current density. Wormlike amorphous whiskers were formed over the corroded zone, and the density of the wormlike whiskers increased with the current density and polarization time.

In a recent work, Chen et al. [L-Y. Chen et al., J. Mater. Res.24, 3116 (2009)] presented microstructural observation on a plastic Zr64.13Cu15.75Ni10.12Al10 bulk metallic glass (BMG) reported in Liu et al. [Y.H. Liu et al., Science315, 1385 (2007)] by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and anomalous small-angle x-ray scattering experiments. Based on their observation, they draw a conclusion that there are no micrometer-sized or nanometer-sized structural heterogeneities in the BMG, and the large plasticity of the BMG cannot be ascribed to the structural heterogeneities. In this comment, we show that their assessment and analysis of their observation are problematic, and it is not evident and precise to use their observation to claim that the BMG is homogeneous and the structural heterogeneity in the glass is an artifact.

The morphology of the dark and bright regions observed by transmission electron microscopy for the Zr64.13Cu15.75Ni10.12Al10 bulk metallic glass strongly depends on the ion beam parameters used for ion milling. This indicates that the ion beam could introduce surface fluctuation to metallic glasses during ion milling.