In Situ Generated Shear Bands in Metallic Glass Investigated by Atomic Force and Analytical Transmission Electron Microscopy

Plastic deformation of metallic glasses performed at temperatures well below the glass transition proceeds via the formation of shear bands. In this contribution, we investigated shear bands originating from in situ tensile tests of Al88Y7Fe5 melt-spun ribbons performed under a transmission electron microscope. The observed contrasts of the shear bands were found to be related to a thickness reduction rather than to density changes. This result should alert the community of the possibility of thickness changes occurring during in situ shear band formation that may affect interpretation of shear band properties such as the local density. The observation of a spearhead-like shear front suggests a propagation front mechanism for shear band initiation here.