Molecular dynamics simulation on the mechanical properties of Zr-Cu metallic nanoglasses with heterogeneous chemical compositions

T Li and NN Li and B Kuang and GP Zheng, FRONTIERS IN MATERIALS, 11, 1355522 (2024).

DOI: 10.3389/fmats.2024.1355522

The mechanical properties of metallic nanoglasses (NGs) strongly depend on the average size of glassy grains (D-avg). Nevertheless, current knowledge on the effects of sizes of glassy grains is incomplete for the mechanical properties of NGs. Herein, ZrxCu100-x (25 <= x <= 75) nanoglasses containing glassy grains with different chemical compositions, i.e., the heterogeneous NGs (HNGs), are investigated by molecular dynamics simulation, and the relation between ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and D-avg is determined. Specifically, the UTS decreases with decreasing D-avg in Zr-Cu HNGs when D-avg < 10 nm, mainly resulting from the increased volume fraction of glass-glass interfaces, while UTS would follow the Hall-Petch like relation for Zr-Cu HNGs when D-avg > 10 nm, which is closely related to glassy grains with compositions dominated by Zr atoms. This study provides a deep insight into the mechanical property dependence on grain size in the HNGs, which could be a novel strategy in resolving the issue of strength-ductility tradeoff in NGs.

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