High-temperature deformation behavior and stress relaxation of Zr–Ti–Cu–Ni–Be bulk metallic glass extracted from commercial golf club heads

High-temperature mechanical properties and stress relaxation of amorphous Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 alloy (number indicate at.%) taken from thin sections of commercial golf club heads were investigated at high temperatures. Stress overshooting was observed below the glass transition temperature, and the viscous flow behavior was revealed in the supercooled liquid temperature region. The stress was found to increase after high-temperature interruption due to crystallization at high temperatures. Below the glass transition temperature, not only stress overshooting, but also a stress increase was observed. The presence of stress overshooting may be linked to a stress-induced rearrangement of solute atoms in the matrix of the amorphous phase. The stress relaxation rate below the glass transition temperature was very low whereas it was very fast at temperatures between the glass transition temperature and the crystallization temperature Tx. The stress relaxation rate decreases above the crystallization temperature, Tx, which can be attributed to the difficult atomic rearrangement and the low diffusivity in intermetallics.