Direct measurement of nanostructural changes during in-situ deformation in metallic glasses

Up to now, it is challenging to precisely regulate the mechanical properties and understand the deformation mechanisms of metallic glasses (MGs) at the atomic scale, severely limiting their mechanical applications. Here, we intend to manufacture clamped cantilevers through focused ion beam milling using samples of the Pd-Ni-P MGs, which have undergone varying degrees of liquid-liquid transition (LLT) and are expected to manifest distinct atomic structures and mechanical properties. By loading the cantilever to stress levels on the order of mN and employing in-situ cross-sectional nano X-ray diffraction (XRD) to track the local strains and initiated shear bands, we can directly establish the correlation between the local atomic structures and deformation mechanisms in different samples.