Improved tensile plasticity of bulk metallic glasses by heightening microstructural heterogeneity and energy state

Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) generally fail in a brittle manner at room temperature upon uniaxial tensile loading. In the present work, we disclose that high microstructural heterogeneity fabricated in high energy glass could obviously enhance the macroscopic tensile plasticity of BMGs. Such a unique structure can promote the lower formation energy and the dificulty to propagate shear bands, resulting in detectable yielding and certain tensile plasticity. This work may widen the pathway to overcoming the brittleness and is believed to aid in structural application of BMGs greatly.