Investigation of the mechanical behavior of ion irradiated Ni-free Ti-based metallic glass by nanoindentation

The mechanical response of ion irradiated metallic glass specimens with nominal composition of Ti40Cu32Pd14Zr10Sn2Si2 was investigated by nanoindentation. Surfaces of specimens fabricated by the melt spinning process were irradiated with 4 MeV Fe2+ ions at 25 °C over a range of fluences from 1 × 1012 to 1 × 1015 ions/cm2. Irradiations were also performed at temperatures up to 300 °C. Nanoindentation experiments were performed to obtain values of reduced elastic modulus and hardness and to investigate the materialʹs shear band behavior. Irradiation was found to result in a lower reduced elastic modulus and hardness, however was found to increase homogeneous deformation by suppression of shear band activity.