Influence of crystallization on the deformation behavior of Zr55Al10Ni5Cu30 bulk metallic glass in the supercooled liquid region

The deformation behavior of a Zr55Al10Ni5Cu30 (numbers indicate at.%) bulk metallic glass (BMG) under uniaxial tensile loading at different temperatures within the supercooled liquid region was investigated. The variations in the deformation behavior of few material, which resulted from the crystallization induced at low strain rates during testing is discussed. The Zr55Al10Ni5Cu30 BMG showed either homogeneous or inhomogeneous deformation depending on the test conditions of initial strain rate and temperature adopted. It exhibited a maximum elongation of about 560% at the condition of 680 K, 5 × 10−4 s−1. The increase of the time elapsed during testing at 700 and 720 K produced strain hardening due to crystallization at the later part of deformation. The onset of crystallization which occurred during the plastic deformation was accelerated as the initial strain rate increased. X-ray diffraction and hardness results confirmed the influence of the crystallization induced on the deformation behavior of Zr55Al10Ni5Cu30 BMG.