3D-Strain and structure evolution during inhomogeneous plastic deformation of metallic glasses using strain-tomography, strain mapping and

Recent publications report on plastically deformable metallic glasses by improving shear band nucleation and interaction through rejuvenation and lately even on strain hardening. The mechanisms controlling such interactions are affected and directed by the atomic strain modulation in the material. While on the microscopic scale TEM based investigations could correlate structural disorder to residual strains, the mesoscale remains experimentally inaccessible. EBS provides for the first time the unique opportunity to experimentally probe and correlate these processes in one experiment in scales relevant for engineering applications. Here we propose to study the development of the shear band network in a notched micron sized metallic glass sample during stepwise plastic deformation using 3D strain tomography. In addition, strain-and total-diffraction mapping will complement the experimental information with plane-strain data and real space atomic structure (PDF).