CHARACTERIZATION OF PLASTICALLY-INDUCED STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN A Zr-BASED BULK METALLIC GLASS USING POSITRON ANNIHILATION SPECTROCOPY
Flow in metallic glasses is associated with stress-induced cooperative rearrangements of small groups of atoms involving the surrounding free volume. Understanding the details of these rearrangements therefore requires knowledge of the amount and distribution of the free volume and how that distribution evolves with deformation. The present study employs positron annihilation spectroscopy to investigate the free volume change in Zr{sub 58.5}Cu{sub 15.6}Ni{sub 12.8}Al{sub 10.3}Nb{sub 2.8} bulk metallic glass after inhomogeneous plastic deformation by cold rolling and structural relaxation by annealing. Results indicate that the size distribution of open volume sites is at least bimodal. The size and concentration of the larger group, identified as flow defects, changes with processing. Following initial plastic deformation the size of the flow defects increases, consistent with the free volume theory for flow. Following more extensive deformation, however, the size distribution of the positron traps shifts, with much larger open volume sites forming at the expense of the flow defects. This suggests that a critical strain is required for flow defects to coalesce and form more stable nanovoids, which have been observed elsewhere by high resolution TEM. Although these results suggest the presence of three distinct open volume size groups, further analysis indicates that all groups have the same line shape parameter. This is in contrast to the distinctly different interactions observed in crystalline materials with multiple defect types. This similarity may be due to the disordered structure of the glass and positron affinity to particular atoms surrounding open-volume regions.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 902886
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-JRNL-215995; JNCSBJ; TRN: US200718%%329
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, Vol. 353; ISSN 0022-3093
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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