DMA unveiling of unique mechanical properties in pressurized quenching Zr50Cu50 metallic glass

In this paper, we investigated the mechanical properties of pressurized quenching Zr50Cu50 metallic glasses (PQMGs) under different pressures via molecular dynamics simulations. Compared with conventional Zr50Cu50 metallic glass, it was found that PQMGs have excellent mechanical properties for high strength and superior plasticity behaviors. Importantly, the sight in the variation of mechanical property with the increase of pressure shows that 50 GPa is a turning point of mechanical property. Below 50 GPa, the strength of PQMG increases with the increase of pressure. However, the excellent plasticity behavior of PQMG appears while we apply the pressure above 50 GPa, at the same time the behavior of high strength is retained. We explain that the unique plasticity behavior is dominated by unexpected structural rearrangements, which can be ascribed to the sudden increase of the relative proportion of faster Zr atoms while pressure is higher than 50 GPa. •PQMGs have excellent mechanical properties for excellent plasticity and high strength behaviors.•The superior plasticity behavior of PQMG appears when pressure above 50 GPa.•The rearrangement of Zr atoms is responsible for the excellent plasticity in PQMGs.