Glasses usually represent the lower limit for the thermal conductivity of solids, but a fundamental understanding of lattice heat transport in amorphous materials can provide design rules to beat such a limit. Here we investigate the role of mass disorder in glasses by studying amorphous silicon-germanium alloy (a-Si$_{1-x}$Ge$_x$) over the full range of atomic concentration from $x=0$ to $x=1$, using molecular dynamics and the quasi-harmonic Green-Kubo lattice dynamics formalism. We find that the thermal conductivity of a-Si$_{1-x}$Ge$_x$ as a function of $x$ exhibits a smoother U-shape than in crystalline mass-disordered alloys. The main contribution to the initial drop of thermal conductivity at low Ge concentration stems from the localization of otherwise extended modes that make up the lowest 8\% of the population by frequency. Contributions from intermediate frequency modes are decreased more gradually with increasing Ge to reach a broad minimum thermal conductivity between concentrations of Ge from $x=0.25$ to $0.75$.
The temperature and time dependencies of viscosity of the liquid alloys, Al87Ni8Y5, Al86Ni8La6, Al86Ni8Ce6, and the binary Al-Ni and Al-Y melts with Al concentration over 90 at.% have been studied. Non-monotonic relaxation processes caused by destruction of nonequilibrium state inherited from the basic-heterogeneous alloy have been found to take place in Al-Y, Al-Ni-REM melts after the phase solid-liquid transition. The mechanism of nonmonotonic relaxation in non-equilibrium melts has been suggested.
We study the structural properties and the collective microscopic dynamics of atoms in the amorphous metallic alloy $Ni_{33}Zr_{67}$ at the temperature $T=300K$ by molecular dynamics simulations. The calculated equilibrium structural and dynamical characteristics are compared with the experimental data on neutron diffraction and on inelastic X-ray scattering. We present the interpretation of observed structural relaxation of the microscopic density fluctuations of particles for amorphous metallic alloy in the framework of the recurrent relation approach. The results of theoretical calculations…
We focus on the central problem of discriminating between metallic and insulating behaviour in amorphous alloys formed between a semiconductor and a metal. For this, the logarithmic temperature derivative of the conductivity, w = d ln sigma / d ln T, has proved over recent years to be very helpful in determining the critical value x_c of the metal content x for the metal-insulator transition (MIT). We show that, for various amorphous alloys, recent experimental results on w(T,x) are qualitatively inconsistent with the usual assumptions of continuity of the MIT at T = 0 and of sigma(T,x_c) bein…
The consolidations of two bulk amorphous Fe40Ni40P14B6 alloy discs are performed via hot pressing for a short time in its supercooled liquid region under a pressure of ~1.2 GPa. When the consolidated temperature Ts is lower, the conjunction of two bulk amorphous Fe40Ni40P14B6 alloy discs cannot be achieved. Only when Ts get to the vicinity of 675 K, two amorphous Fe40Ni40P14B6 alloy discs have low viscosity enough to be fully fused together in a short time and the resulting compacts retain ~90% amorphous phase. To further improve the consolidated temperature Ts, a vast amount of crystallizatio…
The dependence of initial magnetic permeability μi of based on the Fe-Si-B amorphous and nanocrystalline alloys on the γ-irradiation dose was investigated by the method of inductance factor determination. It was determined that the alloying of amorphous Fe-Si-B alloys by nickel and molybdenum increases the radiation sensitivity of the μi. Initial magnetic permeability of nanocrystalline magnetic alloys is less sensitive to the action of γ-irradiation as compared with the alloyed amorphous alloys. Has been suggested that radiation influence on the initial magnetic permeability are caused by cre…
We show that quantum correlations induced by electron-electron interactions in the presence of random impurity scattering can play an important role in the thermal stabilization of amorphous Hume-Rothery systems: When there is strong backscattering off local, concentrical ion clusters, the static electron density response $χ(0,q)$ acquires a powerlaw divergence at $q=2k_F$ even at elevated temperature. This leads to an enhancement as well as to a systematical phase shift of the Friedel oscillations, both consistent with experiments. The possible importance of this effect in icosahedral quasicr…
The atomic distribution in amorphous FeZr alloys is found to be close to random, nevertheless, the composition can not be viewed as being homogenous at the nm-scale. The spatial variation of the local composition is identified as the root of the unusual magnetic properties in amorphous Fe$_{1-x}$Zr$_{x}$ alloys. The findings are discussed and generalised with respect to the physical properties of amorphous and crystalline materials.
An amorphous Se$_{0.80}$S$_{0.20}$ alloy produced by Mechanical Alloying was studied by Raman spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and optical absorption spectroscopy, and also through reverse Monte Carlo simulations of its total structure factor and EXAFS data. Its vibrational modes, optical gap and structural properties as average interatomic distances and average coordination numbers were determined and compared to those found for an amorphous Se$_{0.90}$S$_{0.10}$ alloy. The results indicate that coordination numbers, interatomic distances and a…
Amorphous complexions in nanocrystalline metals have the potential to improve mechanical properties and radiation tolerance, as well as resistance to grain growth. In this study, the stability of amorphous complexions in binary and ternary Cu-based alloys is investigated by observing the effect of cooling rate from high temperature on the occurrence of amorphous-to-ordered complexion transitions. Bulk Cu-Zr and Cu-Zr-Hf alloy samples were annealed to induce boundary premelting and then quenched through a procedure that induces a gradient of local cooling rate through the sample height. Amorpho…
We have investigated the local atomic structure of amorphous TM-Ti alloys (TM = Co, Ni, Cu) produced by Mechanical Alloying by means of EXAFS analyses on TM and Ti K-edges. Coordination numbers and interatomic distances for the four alloys where found and compared. EXAFS results obtained indicated a shortening in the unlike pairs TM-Ti as the difference between $d$ electrons of TM and Ti atoms increases, suggesting an increase in the chemical short range order (CSRO) from TM = Co to Cu.
Ferromagnetic bulk amorphous Fe40Ni40P14B6 alloy rods with a diameter of 1.2 mm can be prepared by means of a rapid quenching technique. If a fluxing technique is also used, amorphous rods with a diameter as large as 2.5 mm can be synthesized. The critical cooling rate Rc for the glass formation Fe40Ni40P14B6 is estimated to be on the order of 100 K.s-1
The local atomic order of an amorphous Ga$_{50}$Se$_{50}$ alloy produced by Mechanical Alloying (MA) was studied by the Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) techniques and by Reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) simulations of its total x-ray structure factor. The coordination numbers and interatomic distances for the first neighbors were determined by means of EXAFS analysis and RMC simulations. The RMC simulations also furnished the partial pair distribution functions $G^{\text{RMC}}_{\text{Ga-Ga}}(r)$, $G^{\text{RMC}}_{\text{Ga-Se}}(r)$ and $G^{\text{RMC}}_{\tex…
In recent years, there has been an intense interest in understanding the microscopic mechanism of thermally induced magnetization switching driven by a femtosecond laser pulse. Most of the effort has been dedicated to periodic crystalline structures while the amorphous counterparts have been less studied. By using a multiscale approach, i.e. first-principles density functional theory combined with atomistic spin dynamics, we report here on the very intricate structural and magnetic nature of amorphous Gd-Fe alloys for a wide range of Gd and Fe atomic concentrations at the nanoscale level. Both…
Three amorphous Co$_x$Nb$_{100-x}$ alloys, Co$_{25}$Nb$_{75}$, Co$_{57}$Nb$_{43}$ and Co$_{80}$Nb$_{20}$, were produced by Mechanical Alloying starting from the elemental powders. Their magnetic properties were determined using an alternating gradient force magnetometer (AGFM), and the remanent magnetizations, saturation fields and coercive fields were obtained from the hysteresis loop. The alloys have a relatively high saturation field, which decreases as the composition becomes richer in Co. The coercivity and remanent magnetization reach an optimal value around 57% at.Co, making {\em a}-Co$…
Building on the recent discovery of tough nanocrystalline Cu-Zr alloys with amorphous intergranular films, this paper investigates ternary nanocrystalline Cu-Zr-Hf alloys with a focus on understanding how alloy composition affects the formation of disordered complexions. Binary Cu-Zr and Cu-Hf alloys with similar initial grain sizes were also fabricated for comparison. The thermal stability of the nanocrystalline alloys was evaluated by annealing at 950 °C (>95% of the solidus temperatures), followed by detailed characterization of the grain boundary structure. All of the ternary alloys exhibi…
High Entropy Alloys (HEAs) are designed by mixing multiple metallic species in nearly the same amount to obtain crystalline or amorphous materials with exceptional mechanical properties. Here we use molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the role of positional and compositional disorder in determining the low-frequency vibrational properties of CrMnFeCoNi HEAs. Our results show that the expected dependence of the density of states on the frequency as $D(ω)\simω^4$ is recovered for amorphous HEAs and is also observed for partially crystallized alloys with deviations that depend on the de…
Using the scheme of Delaunay and Gabriel graphs, we analyzed the amorphous structures of computationally created Nd-Fe alloys for several composition ratios based on melt quench simulations with finite temperature first-principles molecular dynamics.By the comparison of the radial distribution functions of the whole system and those derived from the Delaunay and Gabriel graphs, it was shown that the Gabriel graphs represent the first nearest neighbor networks well in the examined amorphous systems. From the Gabriel graph analyses, we examined the coordination structures of amorphous Nd-Fe allo…
On the premise that amorphous-HEA composites could demonstrate high toughness and resistance to embrittlement akin to the phase separating glassy-solid solution composites, we develop a thermodynamics based approach to identify chemical compositions capable of undergoing the amorphous to HEA transformation. We introduce two new parameters called phase selection value (PSV) and molar volume dispersity parameter. Using this thermodynamic approach seven multi-component compositions were proposed and the general guidelines for identifying such compositions was established. The approach also reveal…
Investigation of crystallization in an 5BDSR amorphous alloy by system Fe-Cu-Nb-Si-B under the influence of an incoherent optical radiation generated by gas discharge flash-lamp using X-ray diffraction scattering. It is shown that depending on the magnitude of the input power to the flash-lamp of structure of the alloy varies widely after radiation: a change in the short-range order during retaining the amorphous structure or the formation of several crystalline phases with different quantitative content in the alloy. Conditions are found for the formation of the nanocrystalline structure. Ana…
We present the results of simulation studies of a model binary metal-metalloid alloy in which we characterize and explain the local coordination structure, the intermediate structure associated with the packing of these coordination polyhedra and the thermal stability of the various structural elements of this model amorphous solid.
A method to investigate anharmonicity, vibrational anisotropy and thermal expansion using correlated mean-square relative displacements (MSRD) parallel and perpendicular to the interatomic bonds obtained only from Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) analysis based on cumulant expansion is suggested and applied to an amorphous Ni$_{46}$Ti$_{54}$ alloy produced by mechanical alloying. From EXAFS measurements taken on Ni and Ti K edges at several temperatures, the thermal behavior of $\text{MSRD}_\parallel$, $\text{MSRD}_\perp$ and of the cumulants $C_1^*$, $C_2^*$ and $C_3^*$ of the…
Metropolis Monte Carlo simulations of the eutectic NaK alloy are performed using the Second Moment Approximation (SMA) model potential across a wide range of temperatures at constant pressure. The alloy structure and thermodynamics are analyzed along with the atomic level structures using a variety of structure identification methods. Both enthalpy and density are followed along an annealing process that reveals a clear melting point around 250 K. At lower temperatures, two thermodynamic branches are identified as crystalline and amorphous solids.
We propose that the driving force of an ultrafast crystalline-to-amorphous transition in phase-change memory alloys are strained bonds existing in the (metastable) crystalline phase. For the prototypical example of GST, we demonstrate that upon breaking of long Ge-Te bond by photoexcitation Ge ion shot from an octahedral crystalline to a tetrahedral amorphous position by the uncompensated force of strained short bonds. Subsequent lattice relaxation stabilizes the tetrahedral surroundings of the Ge atoms and ensures the long-term stability of the optically induced phase.
Constructing material network representations for intelligent amorphous alloys design
Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan, China（松山湖材料实验室，东莞，中国）；Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley CA 94720, USA（劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室，伯克利 CA 94720，美国）；Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China（物理研究所，中国科学院，北京，中国）
Pressure-induced s,p-d electron redistribution accompanies structural transformation in amorphous Zr-Cu alloy under compression
Warsaw University of Technology（华沙理工大学）；Cranfield University（克兰菲尔德大学）；The University of Bristol（布里斯托大学）；Diamond Light Source（钻石光源）；University of Edinburgh（爱丁堡大学）；Ehime University（爱媛大学）
We investigate the spin Hall effect of W-Hf thin films, which exhibit a phase transition from a segregated phase mixture to an amorphous alloy below 70% W. The spin Hall angle was determined with a planar harmonic Hall voltage technique. Due to the accompanying jump in resistivity, the spin Hall angle shows a pronounced maximum at the composition of the phase transition. The spin Hall conductivity does, however, reduce from W to Hf with a weak discontinouity across the phase transition. The maximum spin Hall angle of $θ_\mathrm{SH} = -0.25$ is obtained for amorphous W$_{0.7}$Hf$_{0.3}$. A deta…
We study the structural, dynamical and electronic properties of amorphous Si\sub{1-x}Ge\sub{x}:H alloys using first principles local basis molecular dynamics simulation. The network topology and defects in the amorphous network have been analyzed. Structural changes and an increase in number of defects have been found as the Ge atomic percentage increases from x=0.1 to x=0.5. The electronic density of states exhibits a decreasing band-gap and increased mid-gap and band-tail defect states as Ge concentration increases. Investigation of the band tails of the density of states show an exponential…
The short and intermediate range order of an amorphous GeSe$_4$ alloy produced by Mechanical Alloying were studied by Reverse Monte Carlo simulations of its x-ray total structure factor and Raman scattering. The simulations were used to compute the $G^{\text{RMC}}_{\text{Ge-Ge}}(r)$, $G^{\text{RMC}}_{\text{Ge-Se}}(r)$ and $G^{\text{RMC}}_{\text{Se-Se}}(r)$ partial distribution functions and the ${\cal S}^{\text{RMC}}_{\text{Ge-Ge}}(K)$, ${\cal S}^{\text{RMC}}_{\text{Ge-Se}}(K)$ and ${\cal S}^{\text{RMC}}_{\text{Se-Se}}(K)$ partial structure factors. We calculated the coordination numbers and i…
Since the pioneering efforts of Duwez and coworkers in 1965, when a solid amorphous phase of Pd-Si ($a$-PdSi) was obtained in the vicinity of the eutectic concentration, much work has been done. However, some points related to the atomic structures remain to be systematized. In this work, 8 amorphous Pd$_{100-c}$Si$_{c}$ alloys (c = 2.5, 5, 10, 13.34, 15, 17.5, 20, and 22 at %) were generated by molecular dynamics $ab$ $initio$ simulations; the short-range structure is analyzed using several correlation functions, like Pair Distribution Functions, reduced Pair Distribution Functions, Plane Ang…
We have investigated the local atomic structure of an amorphous Co$_{57}$Ti$_{43}$ alloy produced by Mechanical Alloying by means of x-ray diffraction and EXAFS analyses on Co and Ti K-edges. Coordination numbers and interatomic distances where found and compared with those determined using an additive hard sphere (AHS) model associated with a RDF$(r)$ deconvolution, and also with data from bcc-Co$_2$Ti compound. The EXAFS results obtained indicated a shortening in the Co-Ti and Ti-Ti distances when compared to those found by the AHS-RDF method and an increase in the Co-Co and Ti-Ti distances …
Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to provide a detailed understanding of the functional degradation of shape memory alloys at small scale. The origin of the experimentally reported accumulation of plastic deformation and the anomalous sudden increase of the residual strain under cyclic mechanical loading are explained by detailed insights into the relevant atomic scale processes. Our work reveals that the mechanical response of shape-memory-alloy pillars under cyclic compression is significantly influenced by the presence of an amorphous-like surface region as experimentally induced…
The short and intermediate range order of an amorphous Ge$_{30}$Se$_{70}$ alloy produced by Mechanical Alloying were studied by Reverse Monte Carlo simulations of its x-ray total structure factor, Raman scattering and differential scanning calorimetry. The simulations were used to compute the $G^{\text{RMC}}_{\text{Ge-Ge}}(r)$, $G^{\text{RMC}}_{\text{Ge-Se}}(r)$ and $G^{\text{RMC}}_{\text{Se-Se}}(r)$ partial distribution functions and the ${\cal S}^{\text{RMC}}_{\text{Ge-Ge}}(K)$, ${\cal S}^{\text{RMC}}_{\text{Ge-Se}}(K)$ and ${\cal S}^{\text{RMC}}_{\text{Se-Se}}(K)$ partial structure factors.…
An amorphous Ti50Ni25Cu25 alloy was produced by 19 h of mechanical alloying. Anomalous wide angle x-ray scattering data were collected at six energies and six total scattering factors were obtained. By considering the data collected at two energies close to the Ni and Cu K edges, two differential anomalous scattering factors around the Ni and Cu atoms were obtained, showing the chemical environments around these atoms are different. The eight factors were used as input data to the reverse Monte Carlo method used to compute the partial structure factors STi-Ti(K), STi-Cu(K), STi-Ni(K), SCu-Cu(K…
Amorphous complexions have recently been demonstrated to simultaneously enhance the ductility and stability of certain nanocrystalline alloys. In this study, three quinary alloys (Cu-Zr-Hf-Mo-Nb, Cu-Zr-Hf-Nb-Ti, and Cu-Zr-Hf-Mo-W) are studied to test the hypothesis that increasing the chemical complexity of the grain boundaries will result in thicker amorphous complexions and further stabilize a nanocrystalline microstructure. Significant boundary segregation of Zr, Nb, and Ti is observed in the Cu-Zr-Hf-Nb-Ti alloy, which creates a quaternary interfacial composition that limits average grain …
The porous titanium nickelide is very popular in various industries due to unique combination of physical and mechanical properties such as shape memory effect, high corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility. The non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation was applied to study the influence of porosity degree on mechanical properties of porous amorphous titanium nickelide at uniaxial tension, uniaxial compression, and uniform shear. We have found that the porous amorphous alloy is characterized by a relatively large value of Young's modulus in comparison to its crystalline analogue. It has …
Abstract The results of intense pulsed ion beam (IPIB) treatment of the soft magnetic amorphous alloy of a FINEMET-type are presented. Foil produced from the alloy was irradiated with short (about 100 ns) pulses of carbon ions and protons with energy of up to 300 keV and an energy density of up to 7 J/cm2. X-ray diffraction, Mössbauer spectroscopy and magnetic measurements were used to investigate structural and magnetic properties of irradiated foils. It is shown that the foil remains intact after the treatment, and the crystal structure still amorphous. Spontaneous magnetization vector is fo…
Two new refractory amorphous high-entropy alloys (RAHEAs) within the W--Ta--Cr--V and W--Ta--Cr--V--Hf systems were herein synthesized using magnetron-sputtering and tested under high-temperature annealing and displacing irradiation using \textit{in situ} Transmission Electron Microscopy. While the WTaCrV RAHEA was found to be unstable under such tests, additions of Hf in this system composing a new quinary WTaCrVHf RAHEA was found to be a route to achieve stability both under annealing and irradiation. A new effect of nanoprecipitate reassembling observed to take place within the WTaCrVHf RAH…
Soft magnetic materials have low coercive fields and high permeability. Recently, nanocrystalline alloys obtained using annealing amorphous alloys have attracted much interest since nanocrystalline alloys with small grain sizes of tens of nanometers exhibit low coercive fields comparable to that of amorphous alloys. Since nanocrystalline soft magnetic materials attain remarkable soft magnetic properties by controlling the grain size, the crystal grains' microstructure has a substantial influence on the soft magnetic properties. In this research, we examined the magnetic properties of Fe-Si-B-P…
Kinetics of crystallization of two amorphous alloys, Fe70Cr10B20 and Fe80Zr10B10, have been followed up by neutron thermodiffractometry experiments performed in the two axis diffractometer D20 (ILL, Grenoble). The structural changes are directly correlated with the temperature dependence of the magnetization. Fe70Cr10B20 crystallizes following a two-step process: an eutectic crystallization of alfa-Fe (bcc) and the metastable tetragonal phase (Fe0.8Cr0.2)3B followed by another eutectic transformation to the stable phase (Fe0.75Cr0.25)2B and more segregation of alfa-Fe. These tetragonal phases …
Microscopy and diffraction measurements are presented of ultrathin binary alloy films of ruthenium and molybdenum that are obtained by standard sputter deposition. For compositions close to Ru50Mo50, we find the films to be amorphous. The amorphicity of the films is accompanied by a significant reduction of the roughness with respect to the roughness of equally thick films of either ruthenium or molybdenum. We ascribe this to the absence of the grain structure that is characteristic of the polycrystalline films of the separate elements.
The magnetization processes in binary magnetic/nonmagnetic amorphous alloy Hf_{57}Fe_{43} are investigated by the detailed measurements of magnetic hysteresis loops, temperature dependence of magnetization, relaxation of magnetization and magnetic ac susceptibility, including a nonlinear term. Blocking of magnetic moments at lower temperatures is accompanied with the slow relaxation of magnetization and magnetic hysteresis loops. All of the observed properties are explained with the superparamagnetic behaviour of the single domain magnetic clusters inside the nonmagnetic host, their blocking b…
We investigate the exchange coupling constant $J_{ij}$ in Nd$_x$Fe$_{1-x}$ amorphous alloys with different compositions within the framework of first-principles calculation. We observed a strong atomic-dependence of $J_{ij}$ and its fluctuations. We show that the composition strongly affects the distance dependence of $J_{ij}$. Composition dependence of calculated Curie temperatures is modest for $x<0.5$. To examine the effect of the local environment on the exchange couplings, we demonstrate combined analyses of the coordination structure and exchange coupling constants using the Gabriel grap…
We employ an atomic-scale theory within the framework of nonaffine lattice dynamics to uncover the origin of the Johari-Goldstein (JG) $β$-relaxation in metallic glasses (MGs). Combining simulation and experimental data with our theoretical approach, we reveal that the large mass asymmetry between the elements in a La$_{60}$Ni$_{15}$Al$_{25}$ MG leads to a clear separation in the respective relaxation time scales, giving strong evidence that JG relaxation is controlled by the lightest atomic species present. Moreover, we show that only qualitative features of the vibrational density of states …
Grain boundary-based mechanisms are known to control the plastic deformation and failure of nanocrystalline metals, with manipulation of the boundary structure a promising path for tuning this response. In this study, the role of interfacial structural disorder on plasticity and failure of nanocrystalline Cu-Zr alloys is investigated with in situ scanning electron microscopy tensile deformation experiments. Two model materials are created, one with only the typical ordered grain boundaries and another with amorphous intergranular films interspersed into the boundary network, while the microstr…
Complexions are phase-like interfacial features that can influence a wide variety of properties, but the ability to predict which material systems can sustain these features remains limited. Amorphous complexions are of particular interest due to their ability to enhance diffusion and damage tolerance mechanisms, as a result of the excess free volume present in these structures. In this paper, we propose a set of materials selection rules aimed at predicting the formation of amorphous complexions, with an emphasis on (1) encouraging the segregation of dopants to the interfaces and (2) lowering…
We explored the magnetic behavior of a common two-phase nanomagnetic system by Monte Carlo computer simulation of a modified Heisenberg model on a 3D complex lattice with single- and cluster-spins. The effect of exchange coupling between two component magnetic phases was studied on the enhancement in Curie temperature (ECT) of the intergranular amorphous region of a common duplex-phase alloy system, with numerous nano-crystallites embedded in amorphous matrix. The dependences of ECT were investigated systematically upon the nanocrystallite size, the volume fraction and the interspace among cry…
The atomistic mechanisms during lithiation and delithiation of amorphous Si nanowires ($a$-SiNW) have been investigated over cycles by molecular dynamics simulations. First, the Modified Embedded Atom Method (MEAM) potential from Cui et al. [J. Power Sources. 2012, (207) 150] has been further optimized on static (Li$_x$Si alloy phases and point defect energies) and on dynamic properties (Li diffusion) to reproduce the lithiation of small crystalline Si nanowires calculated at the {\it ab initio} level. The lithiation of $a$-SiNW reveals a two-phase process of lithiation with a larger diffusion…
Theoretical predictions of the ideal strength of materials range from E/30 to E/10 (E is Young's modulus). However, despite intense interest over the last decade, the value of the ideal strength that can be attained experimentally for metals remains a mystery (1-5). In this study, we demonstrated the unprecedented strength of an amorphous Cu-Zr alloy that surpassed the E/10 limit. Laser-induced shock experiments were conducted on Cu50Zr50 to explore its strength and failure mechanisms at ultrahigh strain rates. The material demonstrated a high spall strength of 9.8 GPa, approximately 1/13 of i…
