Atomistic study of shear fracture of metallic glass

Abstract

Metallic glass has excellent properties such as high corrosion resistance, high strength, and large elastic elongation. However, its brittle nature and sudden fracture owing to its poor plastic deformability are critical problem for its practical use. Although the brittle nature attributes to the nucleation of shear bands and the shear fracture along shear bands, the whole mechanism of the fracture of metallic glass is still unclear. In this study, our molecular dynamics study tells the shear fracture of metallic glass is owing to the friction in the shear band region. We found the stress serration occurs during the shear fracture which happened in the shear band region. This is quite similar to famous stick slip phenomenon of the friction.