Kinetics of structural relaxation and regularities of plastic flow of metallic glasses

On the basis of a calculation of the structural relaxation rate and an experimental acoustical-emission determination of the temperature of the transition from localized to uniform flow it is argued that the type of plastic deformation of metallic glasses is uniquely determined by the kinetic structure of the relaxation. In the case of a kinetically hindered structural relaxation, which is characteristic for tests of initial samples at temperatures T<380–420 K, a localized dislocational deformation is realized. At higher temperatures, “memory” of the thermal prehistory of the samples is lost (aging at room temperature), the structural relaxation rate grows abruptly and plastic flow becomes uniform viscoplastic flow.