Structural evolution of nanoscale metallic glasses during high-pressure torsion: A molecular dynamics analysis

Structural evolution in nanoscale Cu(50)Zr(50) metallic glasses during high-pressure torsion is investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. Results show that the strong cooperation of shear transformations can be realized by high-pressure torsion in nanoscale Cu(50)Zr(50) metallic glasses at room temperature. It is further shown that high-pressure torsion could prompt atoms to possess lower five-fold symmetries and higher potential energies, making them more likely to participate in shear transformations. Meanwhile, a higher torsion period leads to a greater degree of forced cooperative flow. And the pronounced forced cooperative flow at room temperature under high-pressure torsion permits the study of the shear transformation, its activation and characteristics, and its relationship to the deformations behaviors. This research not only provides an important platform for probing the atomic-level understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of high-pressure torsion in metallic glasses, but also leads to higher stresses and homogeneous flow near lower temperatures which is impossible previously.