Effects of sample geometry on deformation modes of bulk metallic glasses at the nano/micrometer scale

Intense debates have been prompted concerning whether homogeneous deformation can be achieved in bulk metallic glasses at room temperature through the suppression of shear bands at the submicron scale. In this short communication, we demonstrate that multiple shear banding can be successfully attained via a proper modification of the microsample geometry, resulting in the appearance of a homogeneous deformation mode at the submicron scale. However, the apparent deformation homogeneity in our microcompression experiment is a manifestation of the sample geometry effect on the propagation rather than nucleation of shear bands. © 2009 Materials Research Society.