Revealing Nanoscale Solute-Rich Clusters in Bulk Metallic Glasses by Atom Probe Tomography.

ABSTRACT: Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) exhibit excellent mechanical properties due to their lack of long-range atomic ordering. However, understanding their structure-property relationships remains an unresolved challenge since traditional characterization methods have been unable to reveal the 3D nanostructures that control mechanical properties. In this study, a novel approach is developed that uses atom probe tomography (APT) cluster analysis to identify and visualize 3D nanoscale solute-rich clusters in Zr-based BMGs and quantify their size, composition, spatial distribution, and volume fraction. These results show that hardness variations in BMGs are driven by the volume fraction and distribution of solute-rich clusters. By inputting these experimentally determined parameters into a model for d

SUBMITTER: Nomoto K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12464803 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature