Localized shear strain facilitating the amorphization of pure magnesium during the nano-cutting process

The amorphization of pure metallic materials remains a significant challenge in the field of metallic materials. In this study, a hybrid methodology of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and nano-cutting experiments on pure magnesium is utilized, offering an alternative pathway to achieve an amorphous phase beyond the conventional methods of rapid quenching and mechanical alloying. The observed transitions from hexagonal close-packed (HCP) to an amorphous phase and from HCP to body-centered cubic (BCC) present new strategies for the phase transformation of pure metallic materials. MD simulations of nano-cutting in pure magnesium reveal that localized shear strain inside the pure magnesium bulk facilitates both the amorphization and the HCP-to-BCC lattice transformation. Transmission electron microscopy experimental results confirm the above phase transformation results, including the direct HCP-to-amorphous transformation and the HCP-to-BCC lattice reconfiguration after nano-cutting. This research provides a new methodology for both theoretical and experimental investigations into the mechanisms of amorphization and phase transformation in pure metallic materials. These findings have important implications for the development of novel processing techniques in metallic materials engineering.