Structural relaxation and serrated flow due to annealing treatments in Zr-based metallic glasses

In this work, the effect of the annealing treatment on the serrated flow in Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 bulk metallic glass was investigated. It was found that the as-cast alloy exhibited a pronounced serration flow, and the critical strain rate, number and displacement of the pop-ins of the serration decreased with the increase in annealing temperature. The decrease in free volume may be responsible for the change of the serration behavior in the annealed samples.