Correlation between internal states and creep resistance in metallic glass thin films

Abstract

Some mechanisms of creep, especially those involving dislocations for many crystalline materials, can be verified by direct microstructural examination. However, metallic glass thin films (MGTFs) are disordered materials lacking the long-range order of crystals. Even today, the creep mechanisms for amorphous alloys are far from being fully understood. The physical factors governing localization and instability during creep deformation are still elusive. In this work, Ni60Nb40 alloys with high kinetic stability were prepared by magnetron sputtering at different substrate temperatures to obtain MGTFs with different internal states. We report a close correlation between the internal states and the creep resistance of the MGTFs and reveal that altering the substrate temperature during magnetron sputtering can induce changes in the surface morphologies, plastic deformation resistance, and creep resistance of Ni60Nb40 MGTFs. The creep deformation mechanism is interpreted based on the shear transformation zone (STZ) model of amorphous alloys, and our results may have implications for understanding the role of STZs during creep deformation of MGTFs.