Plastic deformation in nanostructured bulk glass composites during nanoindentation

Nanoindentation experiments of a Ti45Zr16Be20Cu10Ni9 bulk metallic glass and partially vitrified nano-composite metallic glass matrix have been performed under a constant maximum load of 10 mN and constant loading rate of 0.08 mN s−1 with the aim of comparative study of their micro-plastic deformation behavior. Remarkable difference in deformation behavior was found in load–displacement curves of nanoindentation and pile-up morphologies around the indents. The difference in shear banding behavior has been attributed to the presence of nanosized icosahedral particles in amorphous matrix.