Evolution of atomic structure in phase-separated Cu50Ag50 glass under compression deformation

Abstract Although phase-separated metallic glass has been reported in the literature, its plastic deformation mechanism is still open to debate. In this paper, molecular dynamics simulations were performed to explore the plastic deformation mechanism of phase-separated Cu 50 Ag 50 metallic glass during compression deformation. Our findings indicate that homogeneous atom pairs show stronger interaction than heterogeneous atom pairs in the Cu 50 Ag 50 glass, which also shows higher plastic deformation ability demonstrated by stress–strain curves. The degree of phase separation increases with increasing deformation. Ag atoms show higher Voronoi volume and potential energies than Cu atoms. The Ag-rich regions, which yield preferentially, also exhibit larger local shear strain than the Cu-rich regions. Voronoi volume and potential energy of Ag atoms remain nearly unchanged during plastic deformation because of the atom arrangement and release of elastic energy; on the other hand, the same parameters of Cu atoms increase because of their resistance to shear transformation.