Microforming of Bulk Metallic Glasses: Constitutive Modelling and Applications

Microforming can be a good application for bulk metallic glasses. It is important to simulate the deformation behaviour of the bulk metallic glasses in a supercooled liquid region for manufacturing micromachine parts. For these purposes, a correct constitutive model which can reproduce viscosity results is essential for good predicting capability. In this paper, we studied deformation behaviour of the bulk metallic glasses using the finite element method in conjunction with the fictive stress constitutive model which can describe non-Newtonian as well as Newtonian behaviour. A combination of kinetic equation which describes the mechanical response of the bulk metallic glasses at a given temperature and evolution equations for internal variables provide the constitutive equation of the fictive stress model. The internal variables are associated with fictive stress and relation time. The model has a modular structure and can be adjusted to describe a particular type of microforming process. Implementation of the model into the MARC software has shown its versatility and good predictive capability.