Hardness and shear band evolution in bulk metallic glasses after plastic deformation and annealing

Strain-induced hardening and annealing-induced softening are typical in crystalline metals. Bulk metallic glasses (BMG) exhibit the opposite behavior, namely, strain-induced softening and annealing-induced hardening. In addition, reversible softening–hardening–softening occurs in a BMG subjected to a three-step deformation–annealing–deformation process. The hardness changes after deformation and annealing can be correlated with the shear band patterns around/underneath Vickers indents. Shear bands produced during indentation of as-cast BMG are semicircular and radial, consistent with the stress distribution beneath the indenter. In contrast, the shear bands in the pre-strained BMG are irregular and convoluted, and appear to be a mixture of the shear bands produced during the prior compression and those in the as-cast BMG. After annealing, the shear bands tend to recover their semicircular and radial shapes consistent with the annealing-induced hardening.