Size-temperature equivalence in tensile deformation of metallic glass

Tensile fracture of irradiation-free metallic glass specimens with diameters ranging from 100 nm to 500 mu m is investigated at different temperatures. A gradual change in fracture morphology from vein-pattern to completely smooth fracture surface to necking is observed with decreasing sample size and testing temperature. The size-temperature equivalence in the entire length scale can be described by considering the thermal effects in shear localization of metallic glasses. We construct an empirical model based on the shear band heating and velocity formulations to qualitatively describe the size and temperature effects on the fracture morphology. Our results suggest that the widely reported size-dependent transition from shear-localized to homogeneous flow in metallic glasses is fundamentally different from the high temperature homogeneous viscous flow. The plastic deformation in nanoscale samples is spatially localized in embryonic shear bands, which never mature to the propagation stage due to lack of heat content.