Abstract:

Dynamic mechanical relaxation processes of amorphous alloys are very important to understand plastic deformation, glass transition phenomenon, diffusion behavior and crystallization. How to establish the correlation between mechanical properties and mechanical relaxation modes is one of key issues. In the current research, with the help of dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), dynamic mechanical behavior of Zr$_{50}$Cu$_{40}$Al$_{10}$ bulk metallic glass from room temperature to supercooled liquid region was probed. In parallel, based on the uniaxial tensile tests, high-temperature flow behavior of Zr$_{50}$Cu$_{40}$Al$_{10}$ metallic glass around glass transition temperature were investigated. Dynamic mechanical behavior and high temperature deformation behavior were discussed in the framework of quasi-point defects theory. The results demonstrated that main $\alpha $ relaxation process of metallic glass can be well described by the quasi-point defects theory. Based on internal friction of Zr$_{50}$Cu$_{40}$Al$_{10}$ metallic glass, activation energy of elementary movement of atoms $U_\beta$ is 0.63 eV. In addition, correlation factor $\chi $ corresponding to concentration of the quasi-point defects in solid glass remains almost constant below the glass transition temperature. When the temperature above the glass transition temperature, the correlation factor $\chi $ increases by increasing the temperature (below the crystallization temperature). Finally, high temperature flow behavior in tensile mode near the glass transition temperature of Zr$_{50}$Cu$_{40}$Al$_{10}$ metallic glass was studied. The normalized viscosity decreases with increasing strain rate at low temperatures or high strain rates, indicating a non-Newtonian flow behavior. Whereas Newtonian flow behavior is observed at higher temperatures and lower strain rates. The apparent viscosity is affected by temperature and strain rate. High-temperature flow behavior of Zr$_{50}$Cu$_{40}$Al$_{10}$ metallic glass was described by stretched exponential function and free volume theory. Specifically, experimental master curve of the high temperature flow behavior of metallic glass is in good agreement with the prediction of the quasi-point defects theory, which provides a new insight on understanding of viscous effects during high temperature deformation of solid glasses.

Key words: amorphous alloy, dynamic mechanical analysis, high temperature deformation, structural relaxation, quasi-points defects