Elastic and plastic characteristics of a model Cu–Zr amorphous alloy

Athermal quasistatic simulation of shear deformation has been conducted for a realistic model Cu–Zr amorphous alloy to investigate characteristic features of elasticity and plasticity of the material. Significant reduction of the shear modulus by nonaffine atomic displacements and appreciable nonlinearity of elasticity have been observed. The fourth-order elastic constant in shear deformation and the ideal shear strength have been evaluated. Plastic deformation has been observed to start with isolated local shear transformations (LSTs) followed by collective LSTs leading to the formation of a shear band. Participation-ratio analysis (PRA) has demonstrated how the nonaffine displacement field converges as the system approaches the critical point of losing structural stability. PRA has also evaluated quantitatively the numbers of atoms participating in LSTs – the average number is about 30. Spatially anisotropic development of nascent shear band on a plane has been shown, attributable to anisotropic internal stress field induced by an LST. The evaluated stresses for the shear-band nucleation and for its propagation have indicated that the yielding in real materials is controlled by the shear-band propagation, as previously pointed out.