Abstract: The homogeneous plastic flow of fully amorphous and partially crystallized Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 bulk metallic glass (Vit1) has been investigated by compression tests at high temperatures in supercooled liquid region. Experimental results show that at sufficiently low strain rates, the supercooled liquid of the fully amorphous alloy reveals Newtonian flow with a linear relationship between the flow stress and strain rate. As the strain rate is increased, a transition from linear Newtonian to nonlinear flow is detected, which can be explained by the transition state theory. Over the entire strain rate interval investigated, however, only nonlinear flow is present in the partially crystallized alloy, and the flow stress for each strain rate is much higher. It is found that the strain rate-stress relationship for the partially crystallized alloy at the given temperature of 646 K also obeys the sinh law derived from the transition state theory, similar to that of the initial homogeneous amorphous alloy. Thus, it is proposed that the flow behavior of the nanocrystalline/amorphous composite at 646 K is mainly controlled by the viscous flow of the remaining supercooled liquid.

Key words: Homogeneous plastic flow, Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 amorphous alloy