A universal criterion for the failure threshold in slowly sheared bulk metallic glasses

A theory, bridging the free-volume and shear-transformation zone concepts through mean field theory, is established to predict the failure threshold of bulk metallic glasses (BMGs), and the physical mechanism of slip is investigated. A linear relation between the increment of free-volume and strain rate at small time intervals is found to describe inhomogeneous flow. The room-temperature theoretical failure threshold, Smax, follows a universal...