title: Inherent structure length in metallic glasses: simplicity behind complexity.
abstract: One of the central themes in materials science is the structure-property relationship. In conventional crystalline metals, their mechanical behaviour is often dictated by well-defined structural defects such as dislocations, impurities, and twins. However, the structure-property relationship in amorphous alloys is far from being understood, due to great difficulties in characterizing and describing the disordered atomic-level structure. Herein, we report a universal, yet simple, correlation between the macroscopic mechanical properties (i.e., yield strength and shear modulus) and a unique characteristic structural length in metallic glasses (MGs). Our analysis indicates that this characteristic length can incorporate effects of both the inter-atomic distance and valence electron density in MGs, and result in the observed universal correlation. The current findings shed lights on the basic understanding of mechanical properties of MGs from their disordered atomic structures.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Chemical and Engineering Materials Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Yongqiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China.
authors.forename: Xiongjun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China.
authors.forename: Xidong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hui
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Department, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville, Tennessee 37919, USA.
authors.forename: Taigang
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nieh
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China.
authors.forename: Yandong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China.
authors.forename: Zhaoping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lu