Tailoring residual stress to achieve large plasticity in Zr55Al10Ni5Cu30 bulk metallic glass

• Various residual stress states are obtained via changing the laser processing angle.
• The 60° and 90° processing angles induce maximum enhancement of plasticity.
• The effect of residual stress state on the plasticity was discussed via finite element analysis.

In order to explore the effect of residual stress state on the mechanical properties of BMGs, we utilized the laser surface melting to tune the residual stress distribution via changing the processing angle between the laser scanning direction and the axial direction in the Zr55Al10Ni5Cu30 BMG. It was found that the laser processing angle has a significant effect on the plasticity of the treated specimens. The improved plastic strains of the specimens treated by 60° and 90° laser processing angles are almost twice those of 0° and 30° treated specimens. Via finite element analysis, the variation of residual stress distribution with the processing angle was characterized, and the correlation between the residual stress state and the plasticity was discussed. This study could be expected to aid in the wide application of surface treatment for improving the mechanical properties of BMGs.

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