Effects of temperatures on inhomogeneous plastic flows of a bulk-metallic glass

The deformation of the bulk-metallic glasses (BMGs) at the elevated and low temperatures, which is found to be homogenous, and is characterized by the formation of shear bands with or without strain-rate dependent uniaxial compression at various strain rates, was demonstrated. BMG was prepared by arc-melting pure elements in a purified argon atmosphere, followed by casting in a water-cooled copper mold. Here differential-scanning calorimetry was used to characterize its thermal properties. The substantial deformation was developed in the uniaxial compression tests of BMG, using the geometrically-constrained specimens. The main results of the study showed that the temperature significantly affects the plastic-flow and shear-banding behaviors of the BMG, also with the decreased temperature from the ambient one, the plastic deformation of the BMG tends to be less inhomogeneous in time , but more inhomogeneous in space.