Tensile fracture of metallic glasses via shear band cavitation

Tensile fracture of metallic glasses due to shear-band-to-crack transition was studied by molecular dynamics. Such transition is difficult to characterize experimentally as it occurs within nanoseconds in the buried nanometer-thin shear band. We show that the sample fractures via shear band cavitation under high initial tensile stress, or with long sample length. The critical thermomechanical conditions for shear band cavitation, strongly influenced by shear, were identified. An analytical model was developed, leading to a length scale and a time scale for shear-band-to-crack transition.