title: Visualizing the strain evolution during the indentation of colloidal glasses.
abstract: We use an analog of nanoindentation on a colloidal glass to elucidate the incipient plastic deformation of glasses. By tracking the motion of the individual particles in three dimensions, we visualize the strain field and glass structure during the emerging deformation. At the onset of flow, we observe a power-law distribution of strain indicating strongly correlated deformation, and reflecting a critical state of the glass. At later stages, the strain acquires a Gaussian distribution, indicating that plastic events become uncorrelated. Investigation of the glass structure using both static and dynamic measures shows a weak correlation between the structure and the emerging strain distribution. These results indicate that the onset of plasticity is governed by strong power-law correlations of strain, weakly biased by the heterogeneous glass structure.
authors.affiliation: Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rahmani
authors.affiliation: Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Koopman
authors.affiliation: Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Denisov
authors.affiliation: Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schall
mesh_terms: D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D055119:Elastic Modulus; D005898:Glass / Q000737:chemistry*; D006244:Hardness; D006245:Hardness Tests / Q000379:methods*; D008422:Materials Testing / Q000379:methods; D008853:Microscopy / Q000379:methods*; D012031:Refractometry / Q000379:methods*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013718:Tensile Strength
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids