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Carbon Micro-Alloying Promotes Creep Flow via Enhanced Structural Heterogeneity in Fe-Based Amorphous Alloys
Deyu Cao1,2, Sishi Teng2, Jiajie Lv2
1School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China.
Materials (Basel, Switzerland)
|October 16, 2025
Summary
Adding carbon to iron-based metallic glasses enhances atomic mobility and dynamic heterogeneity. This tuning of structural properties improves room-temperature creep flow and mechanical performance.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Physical Chemistry
Background:
- Tuning structural heterogeneity in metallic glasses is crucial for enhancing mechanical properties.
- Understanding the relationship between atomic mobility, relaxation dynamics, and mechanical response is key.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effect of carbon micro-alloying on the relaxation dynamics and creep behavior of Fe-based amorphous ribbons.
- To establish a direct link between structural heterogeneity and mechanical response in metallic glasses.
Main Methods:
- Micro-alloying with carbon.
- Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) to determine crystallization temperature.
- Nanoindentation creep tests fitted with a stretched-exponential model.
- Nanoscale force-mapping.
Main Results:
- Increasing carbon content lowered crystallization temperature and hardness, indicating enhanced atomic mobility.
- Carbon addition amplified beta-relaxation and broadened relaxation-time distributions, signifying increased dynamic heterogeneity.
- Nanoscale force-mapping showed a larger fraction of liquid-like regions and pronounced viscoelastic heterogeneity in carbon-rich samples.
- These microstructural changes promoted room-temperature creep flow.
Conclusions:
- Carbon micro-alloying effectively modulates structural heterogeneity and relaxation dynamics in Fe-based metallic glasses.
- Enhanced dynamic heterogeneity facilitates shear-transformation zone activation and promotes creep.
- The findings provide insights for designing ductile metallic glasses with improved mechanical performance.
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