Stress-tunable abilities of glass forming and mechanical amorphization

TL;DR

This study investigates how mechanical amorphization relates to glass-forming ability across various systems, revealing that the correlation can be inverse and is controlled by external stress, with implications for designing new amorphous materials.

Contribution

It introduces a stress-dependent nucleation theory explaining the complex relationship between mechanical amorphization and glass formation, supported by experiments and simulations.

Findings

Mechanical amorphization ability can be inversely correlated with glass-forming ability.

External stress intensity controls mechanical amorphization, enabling tunability.

The theory explains experimental and simulation results coherently.

Abstract

Mechanical amorphization, a widely observed phenomenon, has been utilized to synthesize novel phases by inducing disorder through external loading, thereby expanding the realm of glass-forming systems. Empirically, it has been plausible that mechanical amorphization ability consistently correlates with glass-forming ability. However, through a comprehensive investigation in binary, ternary, and quaternary systems combining neutron diffraction, calorimetric experimental approaches and molecular dynamics simulation, we demonstrate that this impression is only partly true and we reveal that the mechanical amorphization ability can be inversely correlated with the glass forming ability in certain cases To provide insights into these intriguing findings, we present a stress-dependent nucleation theory that offers a coherent explanation for both experimental and simulation results. Our study identifies the intensity of mechanical work, contributed by external stress, as the key control parameter for mechanical amorphization, rendering the ability to tune this process. This discovery not only unravels the underlying correlation between mechanical amorphization and glass-forming ability but also provides a pathway for the design and discovery of new amorphous phases with tailored properties.