Ductile to brittle transition of Cu₄₆Zr₄₇Al₇ metallic glass composites

The ductile to brittle transition behaviors of Cu₄₆Zr₄₇Al₇ metallic glass and its composite with different microstructures were systematically evaluated by Vickers hardness and small punch test, on the base of the uniaxial compression properties reported before. It was found that the metallic glass composite containing different volume fraction of primary crystallization phases displayed a transition from ductility to brittleness, which can be well revealed by both the Vickers hardness and the small punch tests. For example, the number of shear bands appearing around the indentation of Vickers hardness trends to decrease with the increase in the volume fraction of primary crystallization phases in the metallic glass composites. After small punch tests, the shear deformation and failure behaviors were also found to display obvious ductile to brittle transition. And even the small punch test can distinguish the difference in their intrinsic shear deformation ability more delicately. Based on the experimental results above, the ductile to brittle transition in the metallic glass composite was discussed.