Serrated flow behavior induced by blunt mechanism of shear crack propagation in metallic glass

We present a blunt mechanism to explain the serrated flow behavior and slight “work hardening” at the beginning of yielding during the compression of metallic glass, which is in line with the piling-up of parallel shear bands on the fracture surface with a gradually increasing space from the edge of surface to inside. Meanwhile, two intrinsic parameters, i.e., strength intensity of blunt behavior, K, and global work-hardening sensitivity exponent, n, are introduced to characterize the blunt effect on the net increase in flow stress or work-hardening behavior of metallic glass.