Structural Characteristic Length in Metallic Glasses

Fracture of materials at the microscopic level involves a characteristic length related to microstructure. However, a clear structure-property relationship is still absent in metallic glasses. Therefore, a physics-based expression is derived for the characteristic length (relevant to brittle fracture) in metallic glasses (MGs) in order to link the microscopic material features controlling the fracture process to the macroscopic material parameters. The derived characteristic length is associated to micro/nano structural fracture patterns, critical crack tip opening displacement as well as fracture toughness. Characteristic lengths of various metallic glasses are determined using the proposed expression and compared to the experimental results. Theoretical results are in very good agreement with the experimental results of various metallic glasses. Furthermore, the contribution of characteristic length as well as macroscopic material parameters such as Poisson's ratio, yield strength, and Young's modulus on fracture toughness (and fracture energy) is investigated and compared to the experimental results.