Suppression of the shear band instability during plastic flow of nanometer-scale confined metallic glasses

The shear band instability that occurs during plastic deformation of metallic glasses limits the application of these high-strength materials. We show that this instability can be suppressed in nanometer-scale metallic glasses constrained by ultrafine crystalline layers. Free-standing Cu/amorphous Pd0.77Si0.23 multilayers consisting either of 10∕90nm glass/Cu or 100∕100nm glass/Cu were deformed to layer thickness reductions greater than 75% by cold rolling or bending, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy showed uniform reduction in the layer thickness with no shear band formation in the amorphous layers. The mechanisms that allow homogeneous codeformation of metallic glasses with nanoscale crystalline layers at high stresses are discussed.