First-principles atomic level stresses; Application to a metallic glass under shear

Lobzenko, I.   ; Tsuru, Tomohito   ; Shiihara, Yoshinori*; Iwashita, Takuya*

Unlike alloys with a crystal lattice, metallic glasses (MG) do not possess distinctive defects but demonstrate a highly heterogeneous response to mechanical deformation, even in near-elastic regimes. The difficulties in describing such non-uniform behavior hamper the prediction of the mechanical properties of MGs. We apply first-principles calculations of atomic stress in CuZr MG to reveal its response to shear strain. That approach allows one to probe such parameters as displacement vector, charge transfer, or change in chemical bonds on the lowest atomic level. We find correlations between the mentioned parameters and show the importance of atomic von Mises stress in the comprehensive description of the mechanical state of a glassy system.