Enhanced plasticity of bulk metallic glass in different aspect ratios via laser shock peening with multiple impacts

In this study laser shock peening (LSP) with multiple laser impacts was used to improve the mechanical properties especially the plasticity of Zr35Ti30Cu8.25Be26.75 bulk metallic glass (BMG) pillars in two aspect ratios (1:1 and 2:1). It was found that, with increasing laser impacts up to 5, the compression plastic strain of BMG pillar with aspect ratio of 1:1 increased from 0 to 1.48% and the compression strength increased significantly from 1569 MPa to 1721 MPa. With further laser impacts beyond 5, the changes in the plasticity and the compression strength were observed to be insignificant. Considering the effect of sample geometry at the same laser impacts, it could be concluded that the BMG pillars with smaller aspect ratio of 1:1 had better mechanical properties than that of the lager BMG pillars with aspect ratio of 2:1. Besides, the elastic strain limit of BMG pillars with LSP was not only independent of the laser impacts, but also irrelevant to the aspect ratio. At last, we discussed the reason for the increase of plasticity in view of the creation of excess free volume during LSP.