Quasi-work-hardening at sites of shear band interactions in a Cu50Zr50 metallic glass

Abstract Using a powerful method of contact-resonance atomic force microscope, we studied the elastic modulus at shear band (SB) interactions in a Cu50Zr50 metallic glass (MG). A quasi-work-hardening effect is observed: the interaction site is harder than the SB itself, but softer than the undeformed matrix. Therefore, the interaction site is not the weakest position during the deformation process of MGs. Large-scale molecular dynamics simulation suggests that this quasi-work-hardening effect is correlated to a locally configurational evolution of shear-resistant cluster. Our findings are useful for understanding the deformation mechanism of multi-SBs in MGs.