Shear-accelerated crystallization in a supercooled atomic liquid.

A bulk metallic glass forming alloy is subjected to shear flow in its supercooled state by compression of a short rod to produce a flat disk. The resulting material exhibits enhanced crystallization kinetics during isothermal annealing as reflected in the decrease of the crystallization time relative to the nondeformed case. The transition from quiescent to shear-accelerated crystallization is linked to strain accumulated during shear flow above a critical shear rate γ̇(c)≈0.3 s(-1) which corresponds to Péclet number, Pe∼O(1). The observation of shear-accelerated crystallization in an atomic system at modest shear rates is uncommon. It is made possible here by the substantial viscosity of the supercooled liquid which increases strongly with temperature in the approach to the glass transition. We may therefore anticipate the encounter of nontrivial shear-related effects during thermoplastic deformation of similar systems.