Fracture surface morphology of compressed bulk metallic glass-matrix-composites and bulk metallic glass

The fracture morphology of Zr-based bulk metallic glass-matrix-composites (BMGCs) and Cu-based bulk metallic glass (BMG) after compression testing has been studied. The quasi-static compression fracture surface displays a mixture of three different distinct patterns: vein-like, smooth featureless and river-like features. The last one corresponds to the morphology known from tensile tests of BMGs. Moreover, randomly distributed transversal steps on the fracture plane are also present. This is in contrast to previous studies where a characteristic vein-like pattern is considered a unique feature of the fracture of BMGs under quasi-static uniaxial compression. The presence of different fracture features indicates that the development of the fracture plane occurs in a stepwise mode.