Mechanical properties of iron-based bulk metallic glasses

X.J. Gu and S. Joseph Poona)

Department of Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4714
Gary J. Shiflet
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Virginia,
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4745

(Received 1 June 2006; accepted 18 September 2006)

Iron-based bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) are characterized by high fracture strengths
and elastic moduli, with some exhibiting fracture strengths near 4 GPa, 23 times
those of conventional high-strength steels. Among the Fe-based BMGs, the
non-ferromagnetic ones, designated non-ferromagnetic amorphous steel alloys by two
of the present authors [S.J. Poon et al.: Appl. Phys. Lett. 83, 1131 (2003)], have
glass-forming ability high enough to form single-phase glassy rods with diameters
reaching 16 mm. Fe-based BMGs designed for structural applications must exhibit
some plasticity under compression. However, the role of alloy composition on plastic
and brittle failures in metallic glasses is largely unknown. In view of a recently
observed correlation that exists between plasticity and Poissons ratio for BMGs,
compositional effects on plasticity and elastic properties in amorphous steels were
investigated. For the new amorphous steels, fracture strengths as high as 4.4 GPa and
plastic strains reaching 0.8% were measured. Plastic failure instead of brittle failure
was observed as the Poissons ratio approached 0.32 from below. Investigation of the
relationship between the elastic moduli of the alloys and those of the alloying elements
revealed that interatomic interactions in addition to the elastic moduli of the alloying
elements must be considered in designing ductile Fe-based BMGs. The prospects for
attaining high fracture toughness in Fe-based BMGs are discussed in this article.

I. INTRODUCTION gether with small compressive yield strains of 0.1

The large number of bulk metallic glass (BMG) alloy
systems discovered to date has given rise to the prospect
for inexpensive structural BMGs that exhibit superior
properties such as high strength and hardness, as well as
high corrosion and wear resistance. Considering the low
cost of iron, it is not surprising that a variety of iron-
based BMGs are being investigated as future structural
metals.18
A brief review of different types of Fe-based BMGs
will be given in the next section. Recently, several non-
ferromagnetic Fe-based BMGs, also known as amor-
phous steels,13,8 have been found to have fracture
strengths near 4 GPa. However, these FeMnCrCB
amorphous steels, created at the University of Virginia,1
and subsequently developed by several groups in form-
ing BMGs with thicknesses that exceed 10 mm, are
brittle.24,9 Meanwhile, a number of recently reported
Fe-based BMGs designed for soft magnetic applications
also show high fracture strengths of 2.84.2 GPa, to-
a)
Address all correspondence to this author.
e-mail: sjp9x@virginia.edu
DOI: 10.1557/JMR.2007.0036
0.4%.57 Unfortunately, these findings do not offer suf-
ficient information about how the composition can in-
fluence the deformation behavior of Fe-based BMGs.
From an application standpoint, structural BMGs are
required to have some plasticity. The potential plasticity
of a monolithic BMG can be qualitatively assessed by
the amount of deformation beyond the elastic limit that
the material undergoes during a compression test. BMGs
deform through localized zones called shear bands. De-
spite numerous studies of shear band formation (for ref-
erences, see contributions in this special issue), the de-
formation mechanism in metallic glasses remains un-
clear on the microscopic level. It is thus not surprising
that the origin of plasticity, or lack of it, in different
BMGs is even less clear. Consequently, one cannot pre-
dict alloy compositions in designing ductile BMGs.
Studies performed three decades ago showed that ductile
metallic glasses tended to have a large Poissons ratio
0.35 to 0.42.10 In conventional crystalline metals, it is
known that more ductile materials tend to have a lower
shear modulus (G) to bulk modulus (K) ratio (G/K) or
equivalently, a higher Poissons ratio (). The plasticity
and damage tolerance of a material are characterized by

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 X.J. Gu et al.: Mechanical properties of iron-based bulk metallic glasses

its fracture toughness or energy of fracture. Lewan- than those of Fe, and the elastic moduli of the lanthanide
dowski et al.11 viewed the competition between flow/ Er are significantly lower than those of Fe, Co, and Cr.
plasticity and brittle fracture as controlled by changes in Although focusing on Fe-based BMGs, the present study
the elastic constants through alloying; they analyzed a involving different elemental additions could shed light
range of metallic-glass alloys for which the fracture on the study of the nature of brittle-to-plastic transition in
toughness and elastic moduli values were known and metallic glasses in general.
found a critical value of G/K (0.410.43), or equivalently
(0.310.32), at which the brittle-to-tough transition oc- II. Fe-BASED BMG SYSTEMS
curs. That is, the Poissons ratios of ductile metallic
Fe-based BMGs usually contain B, C, and P as the
glasses were found to be larger than 0.310.32. This
principal metalloids. Prior to the discovery of BMGs, the
finding suggests that one can test whether the same criti-
Fe-based metallic glass samples available were thin foils
cal or G/K can be obtained by tuning the elastic prop-
and ribbons, and as a result, the measurements of me-
erties of individual alloy systems via changes in alloy
chanical properties, particularly elastic moduli, were less
content, which will lend support to the universal nature
accurate or even unattainable. Among those studied, the
of the brittle-to-plastic transition for metallic glasses. Re-
Youngs moduli of binary and ternary Fe-metalloid as
cently, the present authors have performed such an ex-
well as FeNi-metalloid glasses were reported to be in the
periment on a Fe65Mo14C15B6 amorphous steel doped
range of 120170 GPa, and with fracture strengths reach-
with lanthanides for tuning of the elastic properties,8 and
ing 3.4 GPa.12,13 Incidentally, some FeCrMoC me-
the results have revealed a similar critical Poissons ratio
tallic glasses were reported to have high fracture
for the onset of plasticity.
strengths near 4.0 GPa. Fatigue life studies reported for
Despite the success in relating plasticity to G/K ratios
some FeNi-metalloid glasses showed bending fatigue
or Poissons ratios, the current results have not led to the
limit (for N 107 load cycles) that ranged from 650 to
fundamental understanding of the intrinsic plasticity or
900 MPa.13 The latter values are favorable for applica-
brittleness of metallic glasses. To date, there is no mi-
tions in which dynamic loading must be sustained.
croscopic model for explaining deformation behavior of
As for those compositions that form BMGs, Fe
metallic glasses in terms of their atomistic structures and
(Cr,Mn,Co)Mo(Ln,Y)CB amorphous steels, which
atomic bonding. From the alloy design standpoint, even
are nonferromagnetic at ambient temperatures, resemble
knowing that a high Poissons ratio is needed for metal-
both high-carbon cast iron and high-chromium stainless
lic-glass plasticity, there is still the question of how, or
steel in composition.14,9 Other non-ferromagnetic Fe-
even whether it is possible, to obtain the desired elastic
based BMGs have high-boron compositions Fe
moduli in designing a specific ductile metallic glass sys-
(Mn,Cr)ZrB.1 The above group of Fe-based BMGs
tem. Utilizing the knowledge that bulk amorphous steels
contains about 50 at.% Fe, 1020 at.% Mn combined
can form over a wide compositional range,14,9 we have
with Cr, up to 16 at.% refractory metals, several atomic
performed a systematic investigation of the effects of
percent lanthanides or Y, and up to 25 at.% metalloids.
alloying on compressive fracture behavior and elastic
The measured mechanical properties show high fracture
properties of amorphous steel alloys. Based on the com-
strengths of 4 GPa, Youngs moduli of 200 GPa, and
position Fe65Mo14C15B6, elements with G/K and G val-
Vickers hardnesses of 1112 GPa. The fracture tough-
ues sufficiently different from those of iron are used to
ness of FeCrMoCBEr amorphous steel was found
substitute for iron. Accordingly, Cr and Ln (Ln Lan-
to be 4 MPa m1/2,14 a low value consistent with the
thanide) are added to significantly broaden the range of
brittle nature of the material. Fe-based BMGs are de-
elastic moduli of the alloying elements. For comparison,
signed by considering atomic size differences coupled
Co, which has elastic moduli similar to those of Fe, is
with a low-lying liquidus line. Atomic interactions are
also included in the study. As can be seen in Table I, the
also considered for minimizing the energy of the dense
shear and Youngs moduli of Cr are appreciably higher
packing structure. Furthermore, destabilization of com-
peting crystalline phases by use of large Ln/Y atoms is
TABLE I. Shear (G), bulk (K), and Youngs (E) moduli of metallic
elements in amorphous steel alloys. Values of the elastic moduli are
also found to be effective in producing large size (>1 cm
available at http://www.webelements.com. thick) BMGs.2,3 The ferromagnetic BMGs designed for
soft magnetic applications, some of which can form up to
Elements G (GPa) K (GPa) E (GPa) 5 mm thick samples, are based on FePCB, FeB,
Fe 82 170 211 and FeBSi.57,15 The FePBC BMGs contain one or
Co 75 180 209 more of the elements Al, Ga, Si, Sb and refractory metals
Cr 115 160 279 Cr or Mo, while the FeB and FeBSi BMGs contain
Mo 20 230 329
Er 28 44 70
Co and refractory metals Zr, Nb or lanthanides. Some
examples include FeGaPBCSi,5 FeCoNbBSi,6

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 X.J. Gu et al.: Mechanical properties of iron-based bulk metallic glasses

and FeCrMoGaPBC.7 There are apparent differ-
ences among the metalloid-containing Fe-based BMGs.
The high-phosphorus and high-boron BMGs exhibit
lower glass formability than the high-carbon ones but
show some plastic strain to failure, typically 0.1
0.4%.57 On the other hand, the high-carbon amorphous
steels show brittle fracture behavior.
III. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
Alloy ingots of various compositions (as shown in
Table II) of FeCrMoCBEr and FeCoMoCB
Er were prepared by melting appropriate amounts of Fe
(99.98%), Mo (99.95%), Cr (99.99%), Co (99.95%), Er
(99.9%), C (99.9995%), and B (99.5%) in an arc-furnace
under an argon gas. Cylindrical samples were prepared
by suction casting of the molten alloys into a copper
mold. The amorphicity of the samples was verified by
x-ray diffraction (XRD) (Cu K). Thermal studies were
performed using differential thermal analysis (DTA) and
differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) at the heating
rate of 20 C/min. Magnetic transitions of several
samples were measured using a Quantum Design (San
Diego, CA) magnetic property measurement system.
Measurements of the stressstrain response of the BMG
samples under compressive loading were carried out us-
ing an Instron (Norwood, MA) testing machine at room
temperature. A strain rate of 104 s1 was used. The two
ends of each sample for compression tests were polished
by mounting the sample in a standard mold to ensure that
both end surfaces were aligned perpendicular to the long
axis of the sample. Sample dimensions were either 1.5 or
2 mm in diameter with a length-to-diameter ratio of 2.
For each BMG, compression tests were repeated on at
least six samples, and the resulting fracture surfaces were
examined in a scanning electron microscope (SEM).
Vickers hardness measurements were made using an ap-
plied load of 9.8 N. Elastic moduli measurements were
performed using resonant ultrasound spectroscopy.16 Ultra-
sound measurements were performed on cylinder-shaped
samples, typically with a diameter of 2 mm and lengths of
2.54 mm. Measurements were repeated on three or more
samples for each of the alloy compositions investigated.
IV. RESULTS
A. Glass forming ability
It was found that the alloys investigated can form up to
4-mm-diameter glassy samples. Previously, we have re-
ported that the glass formability of Fe65Mo14C15B6
amorphous steel can be improved by adding Er.8 Further
improvement in the thicknesses of amorphous samples is
observed when Co and Cr are substituted for Fe, as
shown in Table II. The diffuse XRD patterns and thermal
analysis curves for three representative amorphous alloys
are shown in Figs. 1 and 2, respectively. Results obtained
from thermal analysis for the new compositions studied
are given in Table II. When the undoped and Er-doped

TABLE II. Results from thermal analysis and mechanical properties measurements of FeMoBC, FeCoMoCBEr, and FeCrMoC
BEr BMG alloys. Glass forming ability is represented by the maximum attainable diameters (D) of glassy rods. Symbols for stressstrain curve
parameters obtained from compression tests: y yield stress, f fracture strength, and pl plastic strain (called plasticity in the text).

D Tg Tx Tl y f pl G K E
Alloy (mm) (C) (C) (C) (GPa) (GPa) (%) (GPa) (GPa) (GPa) v

F65Mo14C15B6 1.5 516 570 1145 3.4 3.8 0.6 73 195 195 0.334
(Fe0.9Co0.1)64.875Mo14C15B6Er0.125 2 508 569 1130 3.7 3.95 0.5 73 178 193 0.319
(Fe0.9Co0.1)64.75Mo14C15B6Er0.25 3 509 570 1126 3.6 3.9 0.45 73 175 193 0.317
(Fe0.9Co0.1)64.5Mo14C15B6Er0.5 4 517 572 1130 3.7 4.1 0.55 73 175 192 0.317
(Fe0.9Co0.1)64.25Mo14C15B6Er0.75 4 508 565 1121 4.0 0 73 176 193 0.317
(Fe0.9Co0.1)64Mo14C15B6Er1 3.5 503 557 1125 4.0 0 73 177 196 0.317
(Fe0.9Co0.1)63Mo14C15B6Er2 1.5 494 536 1142
(Fe0.8Co0.2)65Mo14C15B6 2 502 565 1119
(Fe0.8Co0.2)64.75Mo14C15B6Er0.25 3 506 571 1122
(Fe0.8Co0.2)64.5Mo14C15B6Er0.5 4 506 573 1120
(Fe0.8Co0.2)64Mo14C15B6Er1 3.5 499 555 1119
(Fe0.7Co0.3)65Mo14C15B6 1.5 503 565 1101
(Fe0.7Co0.3)64.75Mo14C15B6Er0.25 2.5 504 569 1107
(Fe0.7Co0.3)64.5Mo14C15B6Er0.5 3 505 571 1110
(Fe0.7Co0.3)64Mo14C15B6Er1 3 497 553 1112
Fe61Cr4Mo14C15B6 2 527 580 1160
Fe59Cr6Mo14C15B6 1.5 533 585 1163 3.8 4.4 0.8 77.4 188 204 0.319
Fe50Cr15Mo14C15B6 1.5 556 601 1210 4.17 0 82 204 217 0.322
Fe60.5Cr4Mo14C15B6Er0.5 3 530 586 1168 4.0 0 76.6 184 202 0.318
Fe63Mo14C15B6Er2 3 504 546 1150 4.0 0 77.8 178 204 0.31
Fe55Cr8Mo14C15B6Er2 >4 80 180 209 0.31
Fe48Cr15Mo14C15B6Er2 12 570 620 1170 4.2 0 81 195 213 0.317

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 X.J. Gu et al.: Mechanical properties of iron-based bulk metallic glasses

FIG. 2. DTA plots for the same BMGs shown in Fig. 1:

FIG. 1. XRD patterns for Fe59Cr6Mo14C15B6 (upper),
Fe59Cr6Mo14C15B6 (upper), (Fe0.8Co0.2)65Mo14C15B6 (middle), and
(Fe0.8Co0.2)65Mo14C15B6 (middle), and (Fe0.9Co0.1)64.5Mo14C15B6Er0.5
(Fe0.9Co0.1)64.5Mo14C15B6Er0.5 (lower). The glass transitions are in-
(lower) BMG samples. The measured samples are cut from the corre-
dicated by arrows. The first exothermic peaks correspond to crystal-
sponding BMG rods with the diameters shown in Table II.
lization of the amorphous matrix, and melting is observed in the tem-
perature range 10401170 C.
Fe65Mo14C15B6 BMGs are compared,8 the glass transi-
tion temperature (Tg) and onset crystallization tempera-
ture (Tx) are noted to decrease upon addition of Co and moduli of the present Fe-based BMGs were determined
increase upon addition of Cr. For some compositions, the from the measured C11 and C44. A list of elastic moduli
supercooled liquid regions Tx Tg are as wide as 65 C. and Poissons ratios for the Co- and Cr-containing alloys
The reduced glass transition temperature (Trg Tg/Tl, is given in Table II. Our previously published results for
where Tl is the liquidus temperature) ranges from 0.54 the Er-containing Fe 65 Mo 14 C 15 B 6 alloys, except
to 0.58. Fe63Mo14C15B6Er2, are not included in the table, but the
Youngs (E), shear (G), and bulk (K) moduli of these
B. Physical properties previous compositions are plotted in Fig. 3 as a function
of Er content for direct comparison with those of the
1. Magnetic transitions Co-containing alloys. Er has a much lower elastic modu-
Magnetic measurements on several compositions lus than Fe. The unusual increase in G and E upon al-
indicate that the Cr-free alloys, studied in this loying Fe65Mo14C15B6 with small amounts of low elastic
work, are ferromagnetic with Curie temperatures
(TC) of 280 K for Fe65Mo14C15B6 and 315 K for
(Fe0.9Co0.1)64.5Mo14C15B6Er0.5. Upon addition of Cr to
Fe65Mo14C15B6, TC decreases at the rate of 25 K/at.%
Cr, resulting in TC 130K for Fe59Cr6Mo14C15B6. These
findings can be compared with those reported for the
high-Cr and high-Mn (>10 at.%) amorphous steel com-
positions, which showed CurieWeiss magnetic suscep-
tibility at high temperatures and spin-glass-like transi-
tions at 1530 K.13

2. Mechanical properties
The amorphous steel compositions studied exhibit mi-
crohardnesses of 11 GPa. The longitudinal and trans-
verse elastic constants (C11 and C44) of the alloys were
measured by resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS).
RUS measurements on the Fe0.8Co0.2 and Fe0.7Co0.3 se-
ries of alloys were not successful due to the ferromag-
netic signal of the samples, which interfered with the
piezoelectric signal from the RUS unit. The elastic
FIG. 3. Youngs (E), shear (G), and bulk (K) moduli plotted as a
function of Er content X. Fe65XMo14C15B6ErX is represented by
inverted solid triangles, open triangles, and solid triangles;
(Fe0.9Co0.1)65XMo14C15B6ErX is represented by open squares, open
circles, and open diamonds. Long-dashed, solid, and short-dash lines
connect data points for E, G, and K, respectively.

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 X.J. Gu et al.: Mechanical properties of iron-based bulk metallic glasses
moduli Er has been attributed to strong Er-metalloid in-
teraction in the alloy.8 In Fig. 3, it can be seen that both
G and E are basically unchanged when up to 6.5 at.% of
Fe is replaced by Co, while K is decreased by less than
2%. These results may be attributed to the fact that Co
and Fe have similar elastic modulus values. For the Cr-
containing compositions, increases in both G and K for
the 0 and 2 at.% Er alloys were observed when up to
15 at.% Fe is replaced by Cr, as shown in Figs. 4(a) and
4(b) (see also Table II). The increase in G and E due to
additions of Cr may be expected, considering that Cr has
appreciably larger G and E values than Fe. However, the
same reasoning cannot be applied to explain the increase
in K, since Cr has a bulk modulus similar to that of Fe.
Especially for the 2% Er series of Cr-containing alloys,
the significant increase in K observed is unexpected. As
a result, the original decrease of K due to additions of
2 at.% Er in Fe65Mo14C15B6 is essentially restored. Com-
bined with our previous study,8 it is clear that the ob-
served elastic moduli trends for both Cr and Er additions
FIG. 4. (a) Shear modulus as a function of Cr content X for
Fe65XCrXMo14C15B6 and Fe63XCrXMo14C15B6Er2. (b) Bulk modu-
lus as a function of Cr content X for Fe65XCrXMo14C15B6 and
Fe63XCrXMo14C15B6Er2.
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cannot be predicted using the elastic moduli of the two
alloying elements.
The true compressive stressstrain curves for several
typical alloys are shown in Fig. 5. The slopes of the
gradients of the stressstrain curves represent the actual
values of the Youngs moduli. The plastic strain is esti-
mated from the nonlinear part of the stressstrain curve
above the elastic limit. The current materials exhibit high
fracture strengths reaching 4.4 GPa and plastic strains up
to 0.8%. The plastic strains obtained are the largest
reported for Fe-based BMGs. Interestingly, within the
plastic region, the samples reveal increased strength with
additional plastic strain, i.e., a form of work hardening.
The shear fracture plane is found to orient at an angle of
about 45 with respect to the direction of the applied
load, and the exposed fracture surface reveals plastic
flow behavior, as shown in Fig. 6(a). The plastic flow
feature observed provides evidence for strain softening.
Meanwhile, there may exist a variety of initiation sites
for shear bands in the samples so that a greater stress is
required to initiate additional shear bands as the
weaker sites are exhausted, resulting in the apparent
strain hardening observed. In contrast, for the brittle
amorphous steel sample, the fracture surface reveals tear
lines and mirror surface (features) characteristic of con-
choidal fracture observed in brittle materials, as shown in
Fig. 6(b).
The plastic strains for all the Co- and Cr-containing
compositions, as well as previously reported Er-
containing Fe65Mo14C15B6, are plotted as a function of
the Poissons ratio and shown in Fig. 7. The collective
plot shown for the three groups of compositions indicates
the onset of plasticity near 0.32. A previous plot of
fracture energy versus for different BMGs also appears
to converge toward 0.32.11 The plastic strains for the
FIG. 5. Compressive true stressstrain curves for four Fe-based
BMG alloys. From left to right: Fe 6 4 . 5 Mo 1 4 C 1 5 B 6 Er 0 . 5 ,
Fe 60.5 Cr 4 Mo 14 C 15 B 6 Er 0.5 , (Fe 0.9 Co 0.1 ) 64.5 Mo 14 C 15 B 6 Er 0.5 , and
Fe59Cr6Mo14C15B6. A dashed line is drawn to highlight deviation of
the stressstrain curve from linearity for Fe59Cr6Mo14C15B6.
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FIG. 6. Fracture surfaces of (a) Fe59Cr6Mo14C15B6 showing plastic
strain to failure and (b) brittle Fe48Cr15Mo14C15B6Er2 as observed by
SEM.
same materials are also plotted as a function of the G/K
ratio, as shown in Fig. 8. The onset of plasticity is seen
to fall in the narrow G/K range 0.410.42.
V. DISCUSSION
The combined results obtained from elastic moduli
and compression measurements performed on
(Fe,Er) 65 Mo 14 C 15 B 6 , (Fe,Co,Er) 65 Mo 14 C 15 B 6 , and
(Fe,Cr,Er)65Mo14C15B6 BMG alloys support a universal
critical and G/K for metallic glass plasticity. It is in-
teresting to note that the same critical and G/K values
are obtained for samples tested under mode I (tensile)
loading reported by Lewandowski et al.11 and those tested
under mode II (shear) loading in the present case. The
agreement between the two results might not be coinci-
dental but could be understood in terms of the competi-
tion between tendency toward shear deformation and ten-
dency for dilation. Shear deformation and dilation can
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FIG. 7. Compressive plastic strain versus Poissons ratio plots: (solid
circles) FeMoCBEr, (solid triangles) FeCrMoCBEr, and
(open diamonds) FeCoMoCBEr. See Table II and Ref. 8 for
alloy compositions.
FIG. 8. Plasticity versus G/K ratio plots for the same alloy series
shown in Fig. 7.
occur under tensile or compression loading. In fact, for
failure under compression, the brittle Fe-based BMG
samples fracture into numerous fragments. The nuclea-
tion and coalescence of voids that occur during compres-
sive dilation result in the multiple cracking of the mate-
rial. With a low G/K ratio, where some plasticity is
observed, the material primarily undergoes shear defor-
mation rather than dilation.
The present study of alloying effects on elastic moduli
also indicates that while it might be useful to consider the
elastic moduli values of the elements in the selection of
alloy compositions, quantitative estimation for the al-
loys elastic moduli cannot be achieved by using simple
averaging of the elements elastic moduli.8 This later
point was also mentioned by other authors.17 To under-
stand our present results, it is necessary to consider in-
teratomic interaction in addition to the differences or
similarities of the elastic moduli of Co, Cr, or Er relative
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 X.J. Gu et al.: Mechanical properties of iron-based bulk metallic glasses
to Fe. Following our previous work, the interatomic in-
teractions between the elemental components are repre-
sented by the heats of formation of the corresponding
binary alloys. As revealed by the heat of formation, the
interaction between carbon (boron) and Ln is the stron-
gest among the alloying components in the present BMG
alloys.18 Meanwhile, the CrC interaction is appreciably
stronger than those of FeC and CoC. Stronger atomic
bonds are expected to enhance the elastic moduli, con-
sistent with what was revealed by the observed depen-
dences of the measured elastic moduli on the Er, Co, and
Cr contents shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The findings strongly
indicate that atomistic interaction must be considered in
designing ductile metallic glasses.
VI. SUMMARY
We investigated how plasticity correlates with Pois-
sons ratio and how elastic moduli depend on composi-
tion in a series of Fe-based bulk metallic glasses known
as amorphous steels. Fracture strengths as high as
4.4 GPa and plastic strains of 0.8% were observed in
some samples. The variation of elastic properties result-
ing from small compositional variations enabled the
identification of a well-defined transition from plasticity
to brittleness, further confirming the existence of a uni-
versal critical Poissons ratio of 0.32, above which plas-
tic deformation occurs, or a universal critical G/K ratio of
0.410.42, below which plastic deformation occurs. It
was found that interatomic interaction in addition to the
properties of the individual elements must be considered
to understand alloying effects on elastic properties.
VII. SOME FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Since the Iron Age, iron has been the most commonly
used metal in human society. There is little doubt that
steel will remain the most important class of structural
metal in the foreseeable future. To date, amorphous
steels with ultrahigh strengths and some plasticity as well
as other superior properties such as corrosion resistance
and wear resistance have been measured. However, as
the present study shows, the elastic moduli trends of
metallic glasses, which determine the plastic/brittle be-
havior as a function of compositions, cannot always be
predicted from knowledge of only the elastic moduli of
the alloying elements. Thus, the design of monolithic
Fe-based BMG compositions with high Poissons ratios,
and therefore high fracture toughness, remain a chal-
lenge. Atomic bonding effects must be considered. The
nature of atomic bonding in the amorphous network is
also closely related to the medium-to-short range topol-
ogy and chemistry. However, the roles of local topologi-
cal and chemical orders on elastic moduli have never
been addressed. Clearly, there is a need to develop a
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J. Mater.
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microscopic model of elastic properties of metallic
glasses that takes into account atomic bonding and local
order effects. Finally, amorphous steel composite mate-
rials in addition to monolithic amorphous steels are also
worth investigating. As found in other BMG systems,
nanoscale structural features that form in the as-cast ma-
terials are believed to promote the nucleation and multi-
plication of shear bands, resulting in greatly enhanced
plasticity.19 Details of these nanoscale structural features
are yet to be investigated. Depending on the elastic prop-
erties of the heterogeneous regions or phases and the
matrix material, the presence of nanoscale inhomogene-
ities can also hinder and deflect the propagation of shear
bands, which leads to significant plasticity as well as
apparent strain hardening.20
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research is supported by the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Structural Amor-
phous Metals Program under Office of Naval Research
(ONR) Grant No. N00014-06-1-0492.
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