Shear yield and flow behavior of a zirconium-based bulk metallic glass

A series of plate-impact combined compression-and-shear experiments are conducted to investigate the effect of normal stress and hydrostatic pressure on the shear yield and flow behavior of a zirconium-based bulk metallic glass (BMG), Zr41.25Ti13.75Ni10Cu12.5Be22.5. The experiments involve skew impact of a thick tungsten carbide (WC) flyer with a stationary WC target plate that sandwiches a thin BMG specimen. The experimental results are combined with the results of a previous study by Lewandowski and Lowhaphandu (2002), where the yield and fracture behavior of the same composition BMG at hydrostatic pressures up to 1 GPa were analyzed using a simple Mohr–Coulomb type model, to understand the effects of normal stress and hydrostatic pressure on the yield and flow behavior of the BMG. The results indicate that, within experimental errors, the normal stress as well as the hydrostatic pressure up to 8.8 GPa have a negligible influence on the shear yield and flow behavior of the BMG.