Making a strong and ductile amorphous alloy by modulating the structural rejuvenation

It has been demonstrated that cryogenic thermal cycling could either rejuvenate or relax the structure of amorphous alloys. Here we present the processing of a largely rejuvenated amorphous alloy with more excess free volume by thermal cycling in experiments, thus improving its plastic deformability. In terms of molecular dynamics simulations, we find that the large amount of homogeneously distributed cavities has a significant effect on the deformation behaviors of amorphous alloys, well consistent with our experimental observations. We suggest that the percolation of soft regions rich in cavities leads to enhanced plastic deformation in such largely rejuvenated amorphous alloys. Our findings offer an approach of effectively processing an amorphous alloy to gain enhanced plasticity by cryogenic thermal cycling.