title: Direct in situ observation of metallic glass deformation by real-time nano-scale indentation.
abstract: A common understanding of plastic deformation of metallic glasses (MGs) at room temperature is that such deformation occurs via the formation of runaway shear bands that usually lead to catastrophic failure of MGs. Here we demonstrate that inhomogeneous plastic flow at nanoscale can evolve in a well-controlled manner without further developing of shear bands. It is suggested that the sample undergoes an elasto-plastic transition in terms of quasi steady-state localized shearing. During this transition, embryonic shear localization (ESL) propagates with a very slow velocity of order of ~1 nm/s without the formation of a hot matured shear band. This finding further advances our understanding of the microscopic deformation process associated with the elasto-plastic transition and may shed light on the theoretical development of shear deformation in MGs.
authors.affiliation: 1] WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan [2] Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: 1] International Center for Quantum Materials, Peking University, Beijing 100084, China [2] Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Limei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Qingsheng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Material Science and Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China.
authors.forename: Deng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing100084, China.
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Dmitri V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Louzguine-Luzgin
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing100084, China.
authors.forename: Ke-Fu
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Weihua
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: 1] WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan [2] Institute of Engineering Innovation, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ikuhara