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Plastic Deformation of Metallic Glasses

Frans Spaepen (Harvard University), Katharine Jensen (Harvard University), David Weitz (Harvard University)

Slip Avalanches in Amorphous Metals

Mon 9:00 - 10:30

Barus-Holley 168

Some key experimental features of the plastic deformation of metallic glasses, as they relate to the localization phenomenon, will be reviewed: the stress-strain relation and the activation volume, stress-induced softening during homogeneous deformation, and the origin of the fracture morphology. The atomistic basis of plastic deformation -- the shear transformation zones -- can be studied by tracking individual particles during shear deformation of a colloidal glass. Spatial autocorrelation of the local strains shows the presence of Eshelby-type shear inclusions, which are already thermally excited in the undeformed glass, and are stress-biased during plastic deformation into an irreversibly sheared state. Features of these transformations related to localization include volume-dependent softening effects and spatial correlations between successive shear events.