No Arabic abstract
Inelastic deformation of metallic glasses occurs via slip events with avalanche dynamics similar to those of earthquakes. For the first time in these materials, measurements have been obtained with sufficiently high temporal resolution to extract both the exponents and the scaling functions that describe the nature, statistics and dynamics of the slips according to a simple mean-field model. These slips originate from localized deformation in shear bands. The mean-field model describes the slip process as an avalanche of rearrangements of atoms in shear transformation zones (STZs). Small slips show the predicted power-law scaling and correspond to limited propagation of a shear front, while large slips are associated with uniform shear on unconstrained shear bands. The agreement between the model and data across multiple independent measures of slip statistics and dynamics provides compelling evidence for slip avalanches of STZs as the elementary mechanism of inhomogeneous deformation in metallic glasses.
Universality in materials deformation is of intense interest: universal scaling relations if exist would bridge the gap from microscopic deformation to macroscopic response in a single material-independent fashion. While recent agreement of the force statistics of deformed nanopillars, bulk metallic glasses, and granular materials with mean-field predictions supports the idea of universal scaling relations, here for the first time we demonstrate that the universality extends beyond the statistics, and applies to the slip dynamics as well. By rigorous comparison of two very different systems, bulk metallic glasses and granular materials in terms of both the statistics and dynamics of force fluctuations, we clearly establish a material-independent universal regime of deformation. We experimentally verify the predicted universal scaling function for the time evolution of individual avalanches, and show that both the slip statistics and dynamics are universal, i.e. independent of the scale and details of the material structure and interactions. These results are important for transferring experimental results across scales and material structures in a single theory of deformation.
Confined glasses and their anomalous interfacial rheology raise important questions in fundamental research and numerous practical applications. In this Letter, we study the influence of interfacial air nanobubbles on the free surface of ultrathin high-molecular-weight glassy polystyrene films immersed in water, in ambient conditions. In particular, we reveal the counterintuitive fact that a soft nanobubble is able to deform the surface of a rigid glass, forming a nanocrater with a depth that increases with time. By combining in-situ atomic-force-microscopy measurements and a modified lubrication model for the liquid-like layer at the free surface of the glass, we demonstrate that the capillary pressure in the nanobubble together with the liquid-like layer at the free surface of the glass determine the spatiotemporal growth of the nanocraters. Finally, from the excellent agreement between the experimental profiles and the numerical solutions of the governing glassy thin-film equation, we are able to precisely extract the surface mobility of the glass. In addition to revealing and quantifying how surface nanobubbles deform immersed glasses, until the latter eventually dewet from their substrates, our work provides a novel, precise, and simple measurement of the surface nanorheology of glasses.
The atomic theory of elasticity of amorphous solids, based on the nonaffine response formalism, is extended into the nonlinear stress-strain regime by coupling with the underlying irreversible many-body dynamics. The latter is implemented in compact analytical form using a qualitative method for the many-body Smoluchowski equation. The resulting nonlinear stress-strain (constitutive) relation is very simple, with few fitting parameters, yet contains all the microscopic physics. The theory is successfully tested against experimental data on metallic glasses, and it is able to reproduce the ubiquitous feature of stress-strain overshoot upon varying temperature and shear rate. A clear atomic-level interpretation is provided for the stress overshoot, in terms of the competition between the elastic instability caused by nonaffine deformation of the glassy cage and the stress buildup due to viscous dissipation.
We study the flow of concentrated hard-sphere colloidal suspensions along smooth, non-stick walls using cone-plate rheometry and simultaneous confocal microscopy. In the glass regime, the global flow shows a transition from Herschel-Bulkley behavior at large shear rate to a characteristic Bingham slip response at small rates, absent for ergodic colloidal fluids. Imaging reveals both the `solid microstructure during full slip and the local nature of the `slip to shear transition. Both the local and global flow are described by a phenomenological model, and the associated Bingham slip parameters exhibit characteristic scaling with size and concentration of the hard spheres.
Mechanical behaviors of bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) including heterogeneous and homogeneous deformation are interpreted by phenomenological shear transformation zones (STZs) model. Currently, information about STZs, i.e. size and density, is only extracted by fitting model equation to the data obtained from macroscopic mechanical tests. This is inadequate since structural features of STZs theory cannot be assessed. Here, we develop anisotropic pair distribution function (PDF) method for directly characterizing mechanical response of deformation defects. Our results reveal the physical picture of deformation defects in BMGs and also provide direct experimental observation of a link between mechanical deformation and intrinsic properties of deformation defects in BMGs.