Mechanical heterogeneity and mechanism of plasticity in metallic glasses

The mechanical heterogeneity is quantified based on the spatial nanohardness distributions in three bulk metallic glasses with different plasticities. It is found that the metallic glass with high mechanical heterogeneity is more plastic. We propose that the appropriate mechanical heterogeneity makes the metallic glasses meliorate their plasticity by increasing inelastic strained area and promoting energy dissipation. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.