Plasticity of ductile metallic glasses: a self-organized critical state

Phys Rev Lett. 2010 Jul 16;105(3):035501. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.035501. Epub 2010 Jul 13.

Abstract

We report a close correlation between the dynamic behavior of serrated flow and the plasticity in metallic glasses (MGs) and show that the plastic deformation of ductile MGs can evolve into a self-organized critical state characterized by the power-law distribution of shear avalanches. A stick-slip model considering the interaction of multiple shear bands is presented to reveal complex scale-free intermittent shear-band motions in ductile MGs and quantitatively reproduce the experimental observations. Our studies have implications for understanding the precise plastic deformation mechanism of MGs.