Scripta METALLURGICA Vol. 6, pp. 915-918, 1972 Pergamon Press, Inc.

Printed in the United States

LOCALIZED SHEAR DEFORMATION IN A GLASSY METAL

C. A. Pampillo

Materials Research Center

Allied Chemical Corporation, Morristown, N. J. 07960

(Received July 21, 1972)

Deformation in a glassy metal at temperatures well below its glass transi-

tion occurs by localized shear. Slip steps have been found on the surfaces of
bent glassy alloys (1,2). Polk and Turnbull (3) have suggested that deforma-
tion of glassy metals below their glass transition temperature could form a
more "disordered structure" and argued without proof that since this creates a
reduced apparent viscosity, it leads to a localized plastic deformation. This
could occur through a greater "compositional disorder" or an increase in the
"average atomic volume."

The purpose of this note is to report a preferential etching effect on

shear deformation bands on a glassy metal which gives some support to Polk and
Turnbull's suggestion that plastic deformation may form a mere disordered
structure.

Rods about 0.2 cm in diameter of Pd.775Cu.06Si.165 glass were prepared by

quenching into w a t e r the molten alloy inside fine walled quartz tubes. Trans-
mission electron microscopy showed that the rods were amorphous. Specimens 0.2
cm long were cut out of these rods and deformed in compression in a table model
Instron machine at a strain rate of ~4 x 10-4/s.

Figure 1 shows a strong shear band revealing the extent of localized shear
being produced in this solid. The arrows mark the compression axis. The large
step shown was produced by a shear band that crosses the specimen from one side
to the other and provides a strain of ~3.5% to the whole specimen. Also short-
er slip bands which terminate within the specimen may be seen emanating from
the strong one and at other locations in the specimen.

The shear deformation bands were found to be susceptible to preferential

etching by the following experiment. After deforming a specimen about 10%, a
flat face was cut on one of the sides by mechanical polishing (up to 0000
paper). The polished face was subsequently electro-polished with a mixture of
acetic acid and perchloric acid and then electro-etched with a solution of 25%
nitric acid in methanol used below 0°C at ~10 volts. Figure 2 shows that by

915
916 LOCALIZED SHEAR DEFORMATION IN A GLASSY METAL Vol. 6, No. i0

FIG. 1
Shear band showing the extent of localized shear 105X.

FIG. 2 FIG. 3
Preferential etching at shear Preferential etch pitting at a
deformation bands 150X. strong shear deformation band
670X.

this procedure slip bands are preferentially etched. Further electro-polishing

(to remove the etching) showed that the preferential etching could be repeated
consistently. Raising the temperature of the electro-etching solution to about
10°C, produced perfectly semispherical pits more or less at random but also
along the path of the slip band, Figure 3.

The preferential etching susceptibility of these slip bands clearly means

that the chemical potential within the band has been changed with respect to
the rest of the material. We believe that the structure change leading to this
effect is the breaking of a "short range ordered" structure existent in the
glass as suggested by Polk and Turnbull. The etching experiment suggests that
Vol. 6, No. i0 LOCALIZED SHEAR DEFORMATION IN A GLASSY M E T A L 917

a c o m p o s i t i o n a l d i s o r d e r i n g may h a v e o c c u r r e d but does not rule out increases

in the a v e r a g e a t o m i c volume. F u r t h e r e v i d e n c e of the d i s o r d e r i n g h y p o t h e s i s
comes from the fact that a n n e a l i n g the s p e c i m e n in F i g u r e 2 for one h o u r at
325°C (50°C b e l o w Tg) erases the e t c h i n g effect. (X-ray d i f f r a c t i o n s h o w e d
that the s p e c i m e n r e m a i n e d a m o r p h o u s after this treatment.) Since such a h e a t
t r e a t m e n t s h o u l d only increase order, this o b s e r v a t i o n suggests that it erases
the s e n s i t i v i t y to e t c h i n g of d e f o r m a t i o n bands by r e s t o r i n g the "short range
order" w i t h i n those areas. It clearly d e m o n s t r a t e s that the reverse effect,
that is c r y s t a l l i z a t i o n or i n c r e a s e of o r d e r due to plastic deformation, does
not occur.

It is d i f f i c u l t to u n d e r s t a n d h o w this e f f e c t may lead to a l o c a l i z e d

plastic d e f o r m a t i o n unless use is m a d e of the c o n c e p t of a d i s l o c a t i o n w h i c h
has b e e n r e c e n t l y p r o p o s e d by Gilman (4) to d e s c r i b e p l a s t i c d e f o r m a t i o n in
glassy solids. The d i s o r d e r p r o d u c e d by the first d i s l o c a t i o n s to move through
a c e r t a i n region p r o v i d e s an "easier" path for further d i s l o c a t i o n s to travel
through. The d e s t r u c t i o n of order due to a m o v i n g d i s l o c a t i o n creates a drag
on the d i s l o c a t i o n . The stress n e c e s s a r y to o v e r c o m e such a d r a g g i n g force and
move the d i s l o c a t i o n is a p p r o x i m a t e l y o = Y/b w h e r e b is the Burgers v e c t o r and
y the e n e r g y per u n i t area due to the disordering. Using the y i e l d stress in
compression for this alloy, o z 1.5 x i0 I0 d y / c m 2 and b z 2.5 x 10 -8 cm, we get
y ~ 375 e r g / c m 2. This means an energy of a b o u t 3100 cal/gr.

More details of the c o m p r e s s i v e d e f o r m a t i o n of this glassy alloy w i l l be

p u b l i s h e d elsewhere.

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to Drs. H. S. C h e n and D. E. Polk for m a n y s t i m u l a t i n g

discussions. We also thank Prof. J. C. M. Li for his e n c o u r a g e m e n t and for
his c r i t i c a l review of the manuscript.

References

i. T. M a s u m o t o and R. Maddin, A c t a Met. 19, 725 (1971).

2. H. J. Leamy, H. S. C h e n and T. T. Wang, Met. Trans. ~, 699 (1972).

3. D. E. Polk and D. Turnbull, Acta Met. 20, 493 (1972).

4. J. J. Gilman, Physics of S t r e n g t h and Plasticity, ed. Ali S. Argon, The

MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1969, p. 3.

5. H. S. Chen and D. Turnbull, A c t a Met. 17, 1021 (1969).