Thermographic studies of temperature evolutions in bulk metallic glasses: An overview

In-situ monitoring the mechanical damage of structural materials is important for controlling the failures. In general, temperature patterns generated in structural materials can serve as significant fingerprints during loading. Thus, the infrared (IR) camera is an excellent tool to study the deformation and failure mechanisms of structural alloys. With the understanding of the temperature evolutions during mechanical testing, thermography could provide the direct information and evidence of the stress–strain distribution, shear-band formation and growth, crack initiation and propagation, and plastic-zone evolution. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of the applications of thermographic techniques in studying the temperature evolutions in shear bands and cracks of bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) under loading. In-situ visualizations as well as qualitative and quantitative analyses of mechanical-damage processes have been performed through thermography results. Theoretical models combining the thermodynamics and heat-conduction theory are developed to understand the shear-band deformation mechanisms of BMGs under monotonic and cyclic loading. Furthermore, some new data developed under compression–compression cyclic loading is included in the present study.