Inherent correlation between mechanical and structural heterogeneity in metallic glasses

Comprehending the physical and mechanical behavior of metallic glasses (MGs) from the perspective of local structural heterogeneity has long been one of the most active research topics in the field of metastable materials. In this study, nanoindentation simulations were employed to study the local elastic behavior of the classical CuZr MGs and discuss the inherent correlation between mechanical and structural heterogeneity. The results show that the mechanical response is governed by the heterogeneity of Voronoi clusters in terms of variety, quantity, and connection mode within the range of indentation. A critical dimension to distinguish nanoscale heterogeneity has been found to be around 30 nm, below which the local mechanical responses are directly correlated to the distribution of characteristic clusters and represent obvious spatial heterogeneity. All these results are expected to bridge the gap between the macro-scale isotropy and the nanoscale heterogeneity of MGs.