Tailoring structural inhomogeneities in metallic glasses to enable tensile ductility at room temperature

Metallic glasses boast high strength, but their low ductility has been a major concern. Here, taking a structural perspective and citing selected examples, we advocate purposely enhanced structural inhomogeneities, in an otherwise compositionally uniform and single-phase amorphous alloy, to promote distributed plastic flow. Four current tactics (the four R's) to improve deformability are highlighted, from the standpoint of structural, and...