Instrumented Spherical Indentation of Bulk Metallic Glasses

Abstract

To analyze the unique low-temperature deformation in bulk metallic glasses (BMGs), here we performed the instrumented spherical indentation tests on BMGs using the various spherical indenters (having different tip radii from 1 to 250 m). Unlike indentation with a geometrical self-similar sharp indenter (such as Berkovich and Vickers indenters), spherical indentation can induce the sequential development of stresses and strains in a material under the indenter, which means that one might observe the flow behavior by single indentation experiment. The results are discussed in terms of the evolution of plasticity during spherical indentation.