Meso-Scale Modeling of Amorphous Metals by Shear Transformation Zone Dynamics

A new mesoscale modeling technique for the thermo-mechanical behavior of metallic glasses is proposed. The modeling framework considers the shear transformation zone (STZ) as the fundamental unit of deformation, and coarse-grains an amorphous collection of atoms into an ensemble of STZs on a mesh. B...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Homer, Eric R., Schuh, Christopher A.
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Elsevier 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/69221
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9856-2682
Description
Summary:A new mesoscale modeling technique for the thermo-mechanical behavior of metallic glasses is proposed. The modeling framework considers the shear transformation zone (STZ) as the fundamental unit of deformation, and coarse-grains an amorphous collection of atoms into an ensemble of STZs on a mesh. By employing finite element analysis and a kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm, the modeling technique is capable of simulating glass processing and deformation on time and length scales greater than those usually attainable by atomistic modeling. A thorough explanation of the framework is presented, along with a specific two-dimensional implementation for a model metallic glass. The model is shown to capture the basic behaviors of metallic glasses, including high-temperature homogeneous flow following the expected constitutive law, and low-temperature strain localization into shear bands. Details of the effects of processing and thermal history on the glass structure and properties are also discussed.